The Murder Mystery of the Fairy Tail Guild
by Kit-Cat Star
Summary: Late into the night, most wizards have left the Fairy Tail guild. Master Makarov is found dead in his office and anyone could have murdered him. As the night wears on, more mysteries - and murders - come to light as the Fairy Tail members left rush to solve "whodunit" before they are killed next. Three endings, based off of Clue. Some humor. Minor/major character death.
1. The Beginning

**Summary: **Late into the night, most wizards have left the Fairy Tail guildhall. Master Makarov is found dead in his office, and there are only a few members who could have done it. As the night wears on, more mysteries - and murders - come to light as the few Fairy Tail members left rush to solve "whodunit" before they are killed next. There are three endings in this story based on the movie Clue.

**Important Notice: **This takes place after the timeskip, and after the Grand Magic Games, meaning that the story is set in the restored guildhall in the middle of Magnolia - the one from the Fighting Festival Arc, for example. There is a layout on the Fairy Tail wikia that I'm using to some extent - I'm taking liberty with some things, like the location of the storage room and the infirmary, but if you want a rough layout of the guild, then go on ( wiki/), minus parentheses and spaces, and scroll down to "Interior Design".

**I shouldn't have started this soon after thinking up the idea, but I've decided to publish it anyway. I'll be working on the next chapter right after publishing this, so there should be another update in a few days if anyone wants me to continue.**

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A cheerful, crazy day for the Fairy Tail Guild started to slow as several guild members left. Macao, Romeo, and Wakaba headed to their homes around nine, an early time for them, Kinnana following soon after. Reedus, Visitor, and all of the others left the large guildhall in the following hour until there were less than thirty wizards were left.

Those still in the building sat down at tables or the bar in their normal groups - Laxus and his team discussed taking a job the next day while Team Shadowgear sat at the bar. A few seats away, Lissana, Master Makarov, and Mirajane watched Elfman lose to Cana in a drinking contest. Gajeel sulked in the corner with his cat as he glared at the other members. Juvia spoke to him for a few minutes before resuming her post behind the pillar next to a certain table that a certain Ice Mage was sitting at.

Gray Fullbuster, along with Happy, Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Wendy, and Carla were drinking and talking at two tables, pushed together and set in the middle of the guildhall. Not too far away, Max chatted with Warren and Laki, and at the table next to them, Bisca and Alzack played with Asuka.

"Bang bang!" Asuka cheered a she aimed her toy gun at a chair. She then pointed it at her parents, mimicking the sound effects of the gun again, and Alzack fell over.

"You've...shot me!" he croaked before going limp, playing dead. Bisca and Asuka giggled.

Just then, the clock chimed. Alzack quickly stood up to see the time. "It's already 11!" he said. "It's time to get Asuka to bed." He grabbed their bag while Bisca picked Asuka up. The toddler groaned, saying she didn't want to go to bed as she waved her hands and the toy gun in the air.

"It's later than your usual bed time, sweety," Bisca replied. "The earlier you go to bed, the earlier you get to visit the guild again!" With their free hands, Bisca and Alzack waved goodbye to the other guild members before walking out the door.

"It's 11?" Laki repeated, looking out of one window to see the dark sky. "Uh oh! My birdy told me that I have a rabbit-turtle breeding contest tomorrow at six AM!"

"Your bird? Breeding Contest?" Warren asked her, confused. Laki ignored him as she stood up and ran out the same doors Bisca, Alzack, and Asuka had used not moments before.

"Laki sure is strange," Max said as he picked up his mug. "You doing anything tomorrow, Warren?"

"I have a job in Crocus with some bandits..."

Meanwhile, Elfman fell off his bar stool and onto the ground, eyes rolling into the back of his head. Cana cheered at her victory, cheeks flushed and shaking slightly on her seat. Lissana hopped off of her stool and Mirajane ran around from the counter to see if Elfman was alright.

"Poor Elfman," Mirajane said as she peered down at a knocked-out Elfman, who was already drooling in his sleep. "He shouldn't have challenged Cana to a drinking contest, though. He knew he'd lose."

"He's done for the night... why don't we head home, Mira-nee?" Lissana asked her big sister. "I'll help carry him."

Mirajane smiled, shaking her head. "Not yet, Lissana. My shift isn't over until everyone leaves! But you can go, now."

"Fine." Lissana shrugged. "Later, then."

Makarov, who had been sitting on the bar quietly, hopped off, leaving his beer mug on the counter. "I'm going up to my office, Mirajane. If everyone is gone by then, you can leave at midnight."

"Aye, Sir!" Mirajane said, giggling as she mimicked Happy's phrase. Grinning, the master of Fairy Tail headed for his office, stopping only to talk to Laxus for a moment.

At the tables in the center of the guildhall, Natsu and Gray were fighting as Erza attempted to ignore them. Lucy, Wendy, and Carla chatted as they watched the two boys, Happy cheering them on. Laxus, Evergreen, Freed, and Bickslow all left at different times to go up to the S-Class board for a job. Every time one would return they would argue about the mission for a few minutes before another would get up to look at other jobs. Max finally said goodbye to Warren as the telepathic mage left the guild, Max staying in his seat.

One important fact that most members didn't notice was that every single member that remained in the guildhall would walk to a different room at least once. For most, it was to the upstairs infirmary, the upstairs S-Class mission board, the downstairs library, or to an upstairs or downstairs bathroom. However, some individuals such as Pantherlily and Evergreen seemed to disappear for several moments before emerging again from the upstairs shadows.

It was so late at night that most of the upstairs were covered by darkness as the lights were not on - meaning, that once someone walked upstairs, it was anyone's guess to where that person was going.

However, the night wore on, and the next hour was filled with drinks, talking, and excitement. The remaining members didn't seem to want to go home any time soon. The Thunder God Tribe finally agreed on a job, Droy almost fainted on his way running to the restroom, and Happy stole another S-Class job because of a dare from Carla.

"Good job, tomcat," Carla meowed as she smirked. "But don't you know that if someone catches you with the flier, you'll be in trouble?"

Happy glanced at the poster for a few seconds - _Please help! We cursed ourselves again -Demons at Galuna Island - _before the realization hit him. "You tricked me!" he cried, flying into the air. "Carla tricked me!"

Wendy looked up. "Happy! Why do you have a mission in your hand? Is that an S-Class job?"

Happy nodded. "Carla told me to get it."

Wendy glared at her Exceed before grabbing the flier out of Happy's paws. She said, "It's fine, Happy. I'll take it back up for you."

Over at Max's table where he was sitting by himself, the sand wizard finally found himself with company - Mirajane Strauss, standing before him in her pink dress and white hair. "Hello, Max! I was wondering if you could run a quick errand for me? Lissana is busy dumping buckets of water on Elfman's head, Cana is drunk, and everyone else is a bit occupied right now," Mirajane said, beaming at Max.

"Oh - sure!"

Mirajane leaned forward, whispering into Max's ear before walking away. Leaping out of his chair, Max headed up the wooden steps. Several minutes later, both Max and Wendy returned within seconds of each other, Max holding a small box and Wendy with nothing.

"That took you a while, Wendy. Where were you?" Carla asked as Wendy sat down at their tables.

"Sorry, Carla. I wasn't sure what to do with the mission at first," Wendy said, flushing. Frowning, Carla turned back to her discussion with Lucy.

After Max had given her the box and she had given him a "thanks", Mirajane started to wipe down the counters. She blinked in surprise when she saw several important papers on the counter where Makarov had been sitting earlier.

"Oh! It looks like Master forgot some paperwork," Mirajane said. Deciding to return it to Makarov, she placed her small box underneath the counter and told Lissana (who was still trying to wake up Elfman) and Cana (who was still drinking) where she was going before picking up the papers.

Meanwhile, the remaining wizards talked calmly, unaware that their last minute of peace was about to end as Mirajane slowly walked up the stairs to Makarov's office, heels clicking ominously on the wooden steps.

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**Please review telling me what you think, if I made any mistakes, if you have a question, or if you want me to continue! Any review is fine with me, and I'll answer any questions with a PM or in the author's note next chapter (if you're a guest). Thanks for reading!**


	2. A Scream and a Fight

**The link to the wiki didn't appear last chapter, but it's easy to find if you look up "Fairy Tail guildhall" if you want a rough layout of the first floor of the guild. Once on the wiki (first link), click on "First Building" before scrolling down to "Interior Design".**

**I originally decided I wouldn't, but for humor's sake I've decided that there will be three pairings: hints of Gruvia, one-sided Laxus/Freed, and one last, slightly unpopular pairing that will not show up until the end. Laxus/Freed and the third pairing will only be shown for humor.**

**I appreciate and will respond to all reviews. Please tell me if I've made any mistakes or if there's a question or suggestion you have. Thanks!**

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"Oh! It looks like Master forgot some paperwork," Mirajane said. Deciding to return it to Makarov, she placed her small box underneath the counter and told Lissana (who was still trying to wake up Elfman) and Cana (who was still drinking) where she was going before picking up the papers.

Meanwhile, the remaining wizards talked calmly, unaware that their last minute of peace was about to end as Mirajane slowly walked up the stairs to Makarov's office, heels clicking ominously on the wooden steps.

Ten seconds flitted by before everyone at their tables in the guildhall heard a scream.

_Mirajane's scream._

A second passed as everyone quietly sat in shock.

"Mira-nee?" Lissana finally called to her sister. When there was no reply, the people at two tables close to the stairs - Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Wendy, Carla, and Happy - stood up and started running up the stairs. They were joined by Jet, who was using his magic to catch up, and soon everyone followed their lead. They crowded around the doorway to Master Makarov's office, the Exceeds flying over their heads, before they heard Mirajane's sobs.

"Mirajane? What's wrong?" Lucy asked worriedly.

"It's - Master!" Mirajane cried. "He's - he's -"

Natsu, who had been pushed to the back, managed to make his way to the front again. When he did, he saw what Mirajane was so upset about. He and several others were staring at the dead body of Makarov.

He was lying on the ground, the chair right behind him to the left of his desk, looking as if he had slipped from his chair as or after he had died. His mouth and eyes were closed, and to the casual viewer he might have been sleeping. Mirajane was bent over him, checking his pulse.

"I was - I was bringing up some papers that he forgot..." Mirajane said, standing up. "A-and I found him like t-this. I think... he's dead."

"What? _Dead?" _Natsu repeated. "But Gramps can't be! He's always...been there..." Soon enough, those closest to him could see the tears on the Dragon Slayer's face. Happy, Lucy, Wendy, Juvia, and Levy quickly joined him, and soon enough everyone including the cold Gray and Erza were, too.

"Who did it?" Freed asked after a minute. "Mira found the body, but..."

"It's not me!" Mirajane exclaimed as she used a hand to wipe away the tears. "I-I just happened to find...his body!"

"There isn't any blood around his body," Gray remarked.

"That means that he probably wasn't shot or stabbed with a normal weapon," Erza said. "Not only does that confirm that Gajeel, Pantherlily, and I _probably _did not do it, but it also leaves out the sword hanging up behind his desk." As she spoke, she pointed to the sword she had been talking about. Supported by only a small wooden band on the wall, the gleaming iron sword had dust settling on it as if the sword hadn't been touched or used in years. "However," Erza continued, "Magic or poisoning or simply old age could have killed him."

"Couldn't be old age," Natsu said stubbornly. "Gramps wouldn't die just 'cause he's so old. What about Hades?" As he talked, he went as if he was going to move Makarov's body, but Mirajane stopped him with a shake of her head.

"He's right," Lucy said. "From what I've read in books, magic helps support the wizard's body, enhancing everything from his brain to his heart to his immune system."

Levy spoke up, saying, "Mages live longer because of his. Master would have to be a lot older for some small complication as a result of age to end in his death."

"However way he died... shouldn't we contact the Rune Knights?" Jet questioned.

"Tomorrow," Mirajane said as she stared at Makarov's body. "They won't come so late at night."

"How long has he been dead?" Freed wondered out loud. "Is his body still warm?"

Mirajane frowned. "Cold."

A moment of silence passed before the Sky Dragon Slayer said eight words that would change everyone's view very quickly.

"And to think," Wendy said quietly. "One of us killed him."

Several heads quickly whipped around to face Wendy. The realization finally dawned on all of them at the same time: someone had killed Master Makarov, and it had been one of them. One of them was a cold-blooded murderer of the guild master of Fairy Tail, and just about every single member had no alibi.

Any one of them could have been the murderer.

People backed away from each other, friends shouting at other friends. Evergreen accused Bickslow, Levy stared distrustfully at Jet and Droy, Pantherlily and Carla and Happy started fighting, Erza and Gray took several steps away from Natsu and Lucy. Within seconds it was pandemonium.

Wendy clamped a hand over her mouth in horror as she, Mirajane, and Freed quickly took a side of Makarov's office, watching the craziness unfold. "I didn't mean for us to fight!" Wendy gasped. "I-I just said-"

"You're crazy! You've always been untrustworthy, even in the Thunder God Tribe!" Evergreen snarled to Bickslow, who shrugged.

"I can't help but being crazy, sure, but I'm loyal to Fairy Tail!" he defended. "You're the witch!"

"Strangling is an option for us, tomcat," Carla hissed.

Happy cried, "Well, you probably saw into the future to kill him... or something!"

"He could have held Master down while she used her whip," Erza said to Gray as she glared at Natsu and Lucy.

"My whip is in my apartment," Lucy replied angrily. "And why would we do it? What's our motive? What about _you?_"

"You sure you didn't pull something fishy, Ice Princess?" Natsu growled, summoning a fireball around his fists.

"Pretty sure it was you who made him kick the bucket, Flame Breath!" Gray retorted as he put his hands together in the ice-make stance.

Freed attempted to pull his two teammates apart, but Evergreen and Bickslow wouldn't move. Wendy quickly plucked her cat out of the air with one hand and held Happy away from her in the other, wailing for them to stop fighting when Pantherlily rushed at the two cats with his sword. Mirajane stared at the scene in shock before pulling herself together when realizing that Freed and Wendy, the only other ones who weren't making a racket and accusing others, were having trouble stopping the chaos.

"Everyone! Stop this!" she shouted, but no one heard her. Evergreen and Bickslow had turned on Freed by this point and Wendy was doing her best to shelter Happy and Carla from Pantherlily.

Mirajane frowned. "If they won't listen in this form..."

Meanwhile, Gray and Natsu were fighting. Unlike their usual fights, however, this one was fought with anger and aggravation as the two attempted to pummel each other to death. Erza was advancing on Lucy, who had drawn a key and was about to summon the spirit. Droy picked out a seed packet, Levy was holding her pen, and Jet was preparing to run. The others such as Max and the drunk Cana were participating in one large brawl.

There didn't seem to be an end to the arguing until one voice spoke up again.

_"I said to stop this fighting!"_

It was as if they had discovered Master Makarov's body again. Everyone turned to Mirajane, who had spoken in her Satan Soul: Sitri form and was currently getting ready to launch a large ball of shadows and pain at them.

"If you don't," Mirajane continued in a deep voice, "I'll launch this at all of you, and then _no one will have to worry about whodunit."_

The effect was instantaneous. Everyone sprang apart from each other and dispelled their magic. "It's time for us to stop fighting!" Freed announced. "We need to get our act together if we want to catch the killer."

Levy nodded as she apologized to her teammates, who in turn told her theirs. She grabbed a few blank sheets of paper from Makarov's desk and sat down with her pen still in her hand. "Let's make a list of where everyone was during the last hour - that's when we last saw Master." Drawing a large square on one sheet, she divided it up into four columns. In the first box of the first row, she wrote _Name_. In the second box on the first row, she wrote _Time _and wrote _Place _on the third box of the same row. The fourth she kept blank before looking up at Freed and standing up, giving Freed the chair.

He nodded in return, sitting down. Freed, using Levy's pen, wrote everyone's names down the first column in alphabetical order. When he was done, he looked up sharply at Bickslow, who gave a little start.

"Where were you at 11:00?" he demanded.


	3. The Timeline

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

After interrogating every member present, Freed held up his chart. In the first column after the first box, everyone's names were written in alphabetical order. In the first box of the second column, the word _Time _was written. The chart, now filled out, had various times for everyone - some with more than one time in their box - and in the third column labeled _Place _various locations were scribbled. The fourth column was left blank.

"I'm going to read this out to everyone to verify that we have the correct information," Freed said, passing the chart around for everyone to read. "We will start with Bickslow, who says that at exactly 11:24, he followed Evergreen up to the S-Class board to choose a mission a few minutes after Evergreen had left for upstairs. Because he was upstairs with Evergreen at the same time, it's unlikely he's the murderer no matter how crazy he may act. Although, he and Evergreen may have worked together, and for this," Freed continued, "I will write that while he is a suspect, he is an unlikely one." Leaning down on the table with the paper, he wrote _Stretch to Suspect: Upstairs at same time as Evergreen _in the fourth box on the row with Bickslow's name.

"Yeah! Ya heard that, Ever?" Bickslow said. "I'm a... 'Stretch to Suspect!'"

"Now Cana was drunk, so we had to rely on other's testimonies for her," Freed said. "At about 11:10-11:20, Cana went upstairs to the bathroom, returning at 11:23. Because she could have used the downstairs bathroom, she disappeared for a short time, and she was drunk, I have labeled her as a _Prime Suspect_."

Next to Cana's name in the fourth box, he wrote _Prime Suspect: Drunk, near office, vanished_. Cana hiccuped, swaying on her feet.

"According to Wendy, Carla, and Happy, Wendy asked Carla to follow Cana around 11:18 so that Cana wouldn't pass out or so that Cana actually goes to the bathroom. Carla said that she returned right before Cana saying she was unable to locate her. Carla is not a prime suspect as she would need a weapon - the sword here is unused and too heavy for her - so even though she was upstairs, by herself, and could not find Cana - which is very suspicious, I think that Carla is a _Stretch to Suspect." _Freed wrote this down on Carla's row along with _No weapons._

Freed's accusations and the filling out of the chart continued with Droy (A stretch to suspect as he had been downstairs) and Elfman (Completely innocent as he fainted). Erza was next - she was labeled a _Prime Suspect: Near office,_ as she had visited the infirmary for bandages after the Natsu/Gray fight at 11:20-11:25, but the setback was that she had no way to kill Makarov, seeing as swords were not an option.

"Evergreen left for upstairs - the S-Class board, as she disagreed with Laxus' job - at 11:15. Bickslow followed nine minutes later, meaning she had almost ten minutes by herself when she could have killed the Master," Levy said as she read the chart, Freed standing behind her.

"Hey! Who wrote that?!" Evergreen snarled. "Was it you, Freed Justine? I thought we were on a team!"

"You accused Bickslow, earlier," Freed replied mildly. "And we are only stating the facts."

Evergreen huffed as she crossed her arms.

"Anyway, I think we should label Evergreen a _Prime Suspect, _because she was _upstairs _and was _gone for a long time," _Levy said as she wrote down said words. At this, Evergreen turned her glare from Freed to Levy.

Next was Freed (_Stretch to Suspect _as he was _downstairs _in the library for a book on runes). Then was Gajeel - he was labeled a _Prime Suspect_ because he'd been upstairs. Gray was a _Prime Suspect _because at 11:24 he had gone to the infirmary - on the opposite side of the S-Class board - upstairs. Happy was a _Stretch to Suspect _as he had no weapon, although at 11:48 he had flown upstairs to to S-Class board, as from a dare from Carla he was supposed to snatch one without being caught. He had been - from Wendy. Jet was considered a _Stretch to Suspect _as well - he'd been at the library, downstairs, looking for a book for Levy at 11:41. He'd returned around 11:46-11:50.

Around 11:50, probably earlier, Juvia had gone upstairs to the infirmary. Her reason - "Gray-sama was bleeding through his bandages so Juvia offered to get some more for him. Gray-sama insisted that Juvia didn't have to but Juvia went anyway."

Levy replied as she stared at the chart, "Juvia is considered a _Prime Suspect, _then." Juvia didn't object.

Then there was Laxus. At 11:11-11:15, Laxus had gone upstairs to pick a mission from his team. However, Laxus' job hadn't satisfied his team, which had ended up with every single S-Class mission and every member of the Thunder God Tribe going up to the S-Class board at one point or another for a job.

Now, all four of them wished they hadn't even thought about taking a request.

"_Prime Suspect," _Levy said as she wrote the words for Laxus's fourth and last box. "_Near office."_

They moved onto Levy, who Freed fairly ruled as a _Prime Suspect _as she had gone upstairs to search for Pantherlily. Then Lissana, who was a _Prime Suspect _as she had also gone upstairs, to look for a hangover cure for Elfman in the infirmary. Lucy was a _Prime Suspect. _At 11:05-11:10, she had gone to and returned from the guild's downstairs library. Usually, they would consider her a _Stretch to Suspect, _but as she had spirits she could have summoned to do the deed for her, they labeled her one of their top suspects.

Max was also a _Prime Suspect - _his magic might have created a Sand Fake. Mirajane was a _Stretch to Suspect. _At 11:11 or 11:15, Droy had asked if she could make some food for him ("A late night snack"). Mirajane had returned with food at 11:23. No one seemed to blame her for finding Makarov's body - instead, they said it "wasn't her fault" as "she had screamed seconds after going upstairs", which "was too short of a time" for Mirajane to kill Makarov.

At 11:05-11:10, Natsu had gone and returned from the downstairs bathroom. He was labeled _Stretch to Suspect. _Pantherlily disappeared, but Gajeel didn't notice until 11:26. The Iron Dragon Slayer had asked Levy to go and search for his Exceed - Levy had gone upstairs while Gajeel looked outside. They hadn't found him, although Gajeel insisted at 11:35, which was when they'd met up again, that his dragon nose might find Pantherilly, so he'd gone upstairs to search. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Gajeel returned with Pantherlily.

However, Pantherlily had been gone for almost twenty minutes without an explanation. When interrogated, Pantherlily had simply said that he'd been looking at the S-Class jobs, but anyone who went upstairs reported not seeing him. To this, Pantherlily retorted, "I'm not supposed to be up there, am I? I was hiding every time I heard a noise because I didn't want to be sent back down." For this is he was a _Prime Suspect._

Finally, Freed explained Wendy. "At 11:27-11:30, Wendy used the downstairs bathroom. She claimed that at 11:49, Happy returned with a stolen S-Class job. Wendy toke the job away and returned it, coming back from 11:50-11:55. Are you sure no one has an exact time?"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking to see what time it was!" Wendy wailed.

Freed said, "It's fine... however, I am sorry for this, Wendy." He wrote _Prime Suspect _on the fourth box of the last row with Wendy's name. Then, on another sheet of paper, he started writing several times and names.

"This is a timeline of where everyone was at certain times," Freed announced. "Using this, we may be able to prove a few more people's complete innocence."

Similar to the other paper, he passed it around so that everyone got a close look:

11:00 - Alzack, Bisca, and Asuka leave guild.

11:05-11:10 - Natsu goes to and returns from downstairs bathroom. Lucy goes to and returns from the guild's library.

11:10-11:20 - Cana goes to the upstairs bathroom, drunk.

11:11-11:15 - Laxus walks upstairs to S-Class board. Mirajane heads into the kitchen. Gray and Natsu fight.

11:15 - Laxus returns with a mission. Evergreen disagrees with job and goes upstairs to choose a different job.

11:18 - Wendy asks Carla to follow Cana to the bathroom to help her out. Carla leaves.

11:20-11:25 - Carla comes back saying she couldn't find Cana. Erza heads to the upstairs infirmary to grab bandages for Natsu and Gray after fight.

11: 23 - Cana returns. Mirajane returns with food for Droy.

11: 24 - Bickslow follows Evergreen up to S-Class board. Gray goes back to the infirmary.

11: 26 - Pantherlily disappears. Gajeel and Levy split up to find him. Levy searches upstairs, Gajeel outside.

11:27-11:30 - Bickslow and Evergreen return with a mission. Wendy goes and returns from bathroom.

11:35 - Gajeel goes upstairs to smell Pantherlily upstairs. Levy returns to bar with Jet and Droy. Gray returns.

11:38-11:40 - Gajeel returns with Pantherlily. Droy runs to downstairs bathroom.

11:41 - Lissana walks to infirmary. Jet heads to library.

11:45 - Droy returns saying that he had accidentally broken a window in the bathroom. Lissana returns.

11:46-11:50 - Jet comes back. Freed heads to library for a book on runes. Juvia goes upstairs to infirmary.

11:48 - Happy flies upstairs to S-Class board.

11:49 - Happy returns; Wendy quickly takes the job away and goes upstairs to return it. Max leaves for the upstairs storage room.

11:50-11:55 - Juvia returns with bandages. Max returns with box that he gives to Mirajane. Wendy returns.

11:59 - Mirajane finds paperwork Makarov forgot and brings it up to his office; finds body.

"Levy has also made a list of everyone who is innocent, who would be hard to suspect, and the prime suspects," Freed said.

"Prime Suspects," Levy read, adjusting her reading glasses,"are Cana, drunk, near office, vanished; Evergreen, near office, gone for a long time; Erza, Gajeel, Lissana, Gray, Juvia, myself, Max, and Wendy: near office; Laxus, near office, motive; Pantherlily, near office, vanished; and Lucy, who can summon spirits to kill for her."

"Those who we labeled 'Stretch to Suspect' are: Bickslow, upstairs but at same time as others; Happy and Carla: no weapons; Droy, Freed, Jet, Natsu: downstairs; Mirajane, downstairs in kitchen. The only one that we know that could not have killed Master Makarov is-"

_"Elfman! _We forgot Elfman!"Mirajane exclaimed. "He's still down there, passed out on the floor!"

"Why didn't anyone try to wake him up?" Erza demanded.

"I tried earlier with a bucket of water!" Lissana said. "But he wouldn't wake up."

Moving as one, everyone ran to the stairs and railing outside of Makarov's office. They stared near the bar, where Lissana had dumped a bucket of water on Elfman's fainted body earlier, but all that was left was a small puddle and nothing to show that 'Beast Arm' Elfman was ever there.


	4. In the Dark

**The latest episode though...**

**I promise that in this chapter, Gray will be fine**

**ish**

"Elfman's gone!" Lissana shouted. "Did he wake up? Did someone take him?" She and Mirajane started towards the bar, the rest following them a second later. It was like finding Makarov - everyone crowded around the evidence, coming closer, wanting a better look.

"Stop!" Erza thundered. "This can be evidence! We need to back away from it - look at these marks from the water. It looks like he was dragged away."

Sure enough, the water seemed to be smeared away from the bar for a couple of feet before disappearing.

"He didn't wake up - and if he did, he didn't move. Someone must have pulled him somewhere," Laxus said. "'Cause these marks aren't exactly signs of someone getting to their feet and walking away. It's a good thing Lissana splashed water on him earlier."

"I-I did it to make him wake up," Lissana said.

"But he didn't, because he was drunk... _dead drunk_," Gajeel growled, Pantherlily resting on his shoulders. A horrified look appeared on Mirajane's face at the word "dead".

"He's gone. Someone took him. Why don't we search for him?" Lucy asked.

Erza nodded. "Good idea. We'll need five groups to look upstairs, each wing, outside, and the basement."

"Actually, the basement is currently closed and blocked by my runes," Freed said. "After Natsu and Gray destroyed all of the furniture and cracked several supporting pillars two days ago, Master Makarov asked me to make sure no one else could go down there until everything is repaired." At this, Natsu and Gray each supported a guilty look on their faces, shuddering when Erza glared at them.

"Very well. Four groups, then. I'll take my usual team," Erza said. "Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Wendy, and Carla."

"But what if you're working together as murderers?" Levy pointed out. "I'll take Wendy and Carla with _my _team, including Jet and Droy."

"That won't be happening, either," Erza said. "If Team Shadowgear is working together, you may corner and overpower Wendy and Carla. Add someone else to your group."

Levy looked like she was about to snap at Erza - a definite death sentence for the Solid Script Mage considering Erza's strength - but Laxus interrupted as he pushed himself in front of the two girls. "Jet and Droy can go with me and my team."

Levy frowned. "...Fine. Then I want Wendy, Carla, Gajeel, and Pantherlily with me."

"Lissana needs to stay with me," Mirajane said. "I... I don't want to lose another sibling!"

There was more arguing to this and to other groups until everyone finally split into four groups. Levy received the team she wanted with Wendy, Carla, Gajeel, and Pantherlily joining the Solid-Script mage. Erza, Gray, Natsu, Lucy, and Juvia decided to go together, and the Laxus' Thunder God Tribe was labeled a group with the addition of Jet and Droy. Finally, Mirajane, Lissana, Cana, Happy - the blue cat had been forced to join them despite his protests of wanting to stay with Natsu - and Max made up the last team.

"The Thunder God Tribe - plus Jet and Droy - will search outside around the guildhall," Laxus said after everyone had divided into their respective groups. "Freed can put up runes to make sure no one can leave or enter, and Jet's magic will be useful for looking in such a large space."

"Don't go off of the property, Laxus," Mirajane warned.

"How about our group look upstairs for Elfman?" Lissana suggested. "We can have a second look at Makarov, too, and see if there are any more clues to who could have killed him."

Her team all gave her their agreement, Cana burping. After that, Levy's team chose to look at the kitchen and surrounding areas of the right wing of the guild hall.

"That just leaves us with...the left wing of the first floor," Lucy said.

"The showers, the library, the waiting room, and the downstairs storages are in that area," Erza noted as she looked to the hallway with the four rooms. "I'm guessing that whoever kidnapped Elfman would have taken him outside, but any of those rooms are a possibility as well."

"So Laxus and his group are looking outside," Levy said as she scribbled the information down on a small notepad she'd found on the counter - one Mirajane used to take orders for customers. "Erza's is looking on the left wing, my group will be in the right wing, and Mirajane's group is upstairs. Is all of that correct?"

"Yes," Freed confirmed. "Now, let's search for Elfman and any intruders that might have taken him..."

His team went to their destination first, Jet running and the rest walking. As soon as the guild doors closed, Mirajane's group started up the steps again. "How could anyone drag _Elfman _up the stairs...?" Max wondered. "He's so heavy."

Then Levy's team walked behind the bar and into the kitchen, Carla and Pantherlily the last two enter. Erza turned to her group. Natsu and Gray were sitting down at a table while Juvia stared at Gray and Lucy stood next to the Rain Woman.

"Alright. Let's look in the storage room first. Stick together, you hear? Out of everyone else in the guildhall, I trust you four the most," Erza said.

"And Wendy, Carla, and Happy," Natsu said. "Wendy's too young to be a murderer."

"Wendy, Carla, and Happy as well," Erza corrected herself, sighing. "But I find it hard to believe that any of you would have killed Master Makarov - Natsu and Gray because they've been in the guild for so long and to them, Fairy Tail is family. Lucy's a part of our team, too, and Juvia..."

"Juvia is Juvia," Juvia piped up, still staring at Gray. Erza frowned.

"Let's just head to the storage room..." Lucy said.

* * *

Erza's theory had been that the storage room held the most hiding spots to put Elfman, so there was a good chance he was there. However, the storage room was a bit dusty but held no sign nor hair of Elfman. Next was the shower room - the large, open space was quick and easy to search, so it only took a few minutes to conclude that Elfman was not there. Then they went down to the waiting room - after making sure not a single book on the one bookcase was actually a lever to a secret room and that the rug didn't hide a trapdoor, the team of five gave up.

As he took off his shirt, Gray said, "That just leaves the library."

"Put your clothes back on," Erza snapped. "But yes, only the library is left, and we still haven't found Elfman. I hope the other teams are having better luck, but I haven't heard any shouting or commotion outside."

Titania Erza was correct. The team consisted of Mirajane, Lissana, Cana, Max, and Happy had looked in the attic, Makarov's office, around the S-Class board, the bathroom, and were now looking in the upstairs infirmary, but no one could find Mirajane and Lissana's brother. The Thunder God Tribe plus Jet and Droy couldn't find him either as Jet looked in every nook and cranny and Freed created the runes.

Levy's team had spent most of their time in the kitchen but soon moved on. While in the kitchen, Gajeel dropped a sack of flour on the ground, making flour poof everywhere and get stuck in everyone's noses - temporarily ruining Wendy, Gajeel, and the cats' sense of smell.

As Lucy walked into the library, flicking the lacrima lights on, Gray and Juvia started for the back of the library. Erza headed to some boxes full of books and started to dig around. Meanwhile, Natsu walked over to the nearest bookshelf and pulled out a book, glancing at the back of the book.

"'When Rose meets Jack on the cruise, thoughts of anything else but love as well as the boat quickly sink..."

"Natsu, put the book down," Lucy ordered tiredly. "You wouldn't be interested in that genre. Plus, we're supposed to be looking for Elfman."

The Fire Dragonslayer had begun the first chapter with a frown, but did as Lucy said to and threw it onto a table lazily. "Are we going to have to pull out every book to see if it leads to a hidden room again? 'Cause that's boring and'll take forever in this room."

"There will be no need to," Erza said, voice rebounding a corner of the library.

"And why not?" Natsu asked.

"Because I have found him."

Gray, Juvia, Lucy, and Natsu rushed over to Erza to see that, hidden behind several large boxes that had several books in them was a flash of white hair. Erza lifted up one box to reveal the rest of Elfman's face.

"Elfman!" everyone exclaimed.

"Is he alive?" Juvia questioned.

"I don't know," Erza replied. "Let me see." She felt for a pulse on the manly wizard's neck, nodding to Elfman's status. "He's alive and a bit wet, but unconscious."

"Who put him there?" Lucy wondered out loud. "Who would _want _to move him so we'd be scared, but not kill him? I would say the murderer of Master, but... this doesn't add up."

"Someone who has an agenda against the Master, but... a friend of Elfman?" Erza said as she ran through the different people that could have done both. "But you're right about it not adding up."

"Juvia has a suggestion. What if there are two different guild members with two different goals? One to kill Master Makarov, and one to terrorize the rest of us?" Juvia said.

"Or one person who wanted to kill the old man, and someone else who wanted to keep Elfman out of danger," Gray said. "So they'd take Elfman and somehow move him from the guildhall to the library."

"But that means they would have had to sneak away when we found Gramp's body," Natsu pointed out. "Wouldn't have they needed to know Gramps was goin' to die?"

Erza, meanwhile, pulled Elfman's body out from the boxes and into the open. "If I were to wager a guess," Erza said, "I would say that the same person who killed Master also moved Elfman but didn't have the heart to kill him - or, as Juvia said, rather strike fear into our hearts. Looking through the list of people that seemed to be missing when we found Master, but subtracting those who would have no way of carrying Elfman while taking into account those who have the magic capable of doing so, I would say the only ones left would be... Gajeel, Droy, and Max."

"Max? Carrying Elfman? Pssh, not possible," Natsu replied, waving his hand. "Plus, I saw Max and Gajeel...I think."

"But wasn't Mira also missing?" Gray asked.

"She was right next to Master's body the entire time," Lucy reminded him. "Mirajane is the one person who _couldn't _have moved Elfman."

"You sure Mira didn't move Elfman? I think it's her."

"I, for one, would think that Lissana would want Elfman out of harm's way..."

"So would Evergreen! Aren't they a thing now?"

"Yes! One less love rival for Juvia's Gray-sama."

Erza glared at them. "Your debating will get us nowhere," she said. "We will only point out what we think we saw - maybe Pantherlily was behind Levy for a second, so you didn't see him? What if you only recall not seeing Bickslow because he was standing right behind you, or not finding Lissana because you weren't paying attention? And Lucy, Juvia, Evergreen and Elfman are not going to happen."

Juvia deflated. Lucy blinked. "But... aren't they a couple?"

"Why don't we move Elfman to the center of the guildhall, and call of the search?" Erza continued. "We have found Elfman, and I am positive that Natsu, Gajeel, or Wendy would have sniffed out any intruders by now."

"Not a thing," Natsu agreed. "No strange smells here."

"Why couldn't you have sniffed Elfman out earlier...?"

Natsu thought about the question for a moment before realization dawned on him that he could have found Elfman within minutes if he'd used his nose. Lucy and Gray face palmed while Erza seethed.

A few minutes later, the team of now six walked back down the hallway to the main hall. The lacrima lights seemed to be broken, making the hall pitch black. Juvia led in the front, Erza and Lucy a bit behind her. Natsu and Gray brought up the rear as they supported Elfman. They would jump constantly every time a floorboard would creak underneath someone's foot, heads whipping from side to side, making the trip a lot longer than the minute it should have been.

"Juvia thinks," the Rain Woman said suddenly from her place in the front of the group, "That Juvia knows who the murderer is."

Everyone present spun around to look at her. "Who? Who is it?" Erza demanded.

Juvia blinked a few times, opening her mouth to speak. However, the name she was going to say was lost forever as there was a _shink. _Juvia looked down in shock as a sword stuck out from her stomach before the eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed. There was a gasp as the attacker, hidden in shadows, quickly ran away with heavy footsteps before anyone could react.


	5. Sword

**Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter.**

There was a _shink. _Juvia looked down in shock as a sword stuck out from her stomach before the eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed. There was a gasp as the attacker, hidden in shadows, quickly ran away with heavy footsteps before anyone could react.

There was a slight pause of shock and fear. Then:

"Juvia!" Gray shouted. He let go of Elfman, making Natsu support the Strauss brother so that he could run over to Juvia's fallen body. _"Juvia!"_

"Gray...sama..."

"S-she's still alive?!" Lucy exclaimed, frozen.

Gray moved to pull out the sword, but a sharp "No, Gray," from Erza stopped him. Instead, Gray shook the arm of the Rain Woman as blood pooled around her - so much blood, too much blood. On his knees, Gray stared at Juvia's body with the gleaming sword sticking out of her stomach until the blood stopped coming.

"You can't take the sword out yet - it will only make the blood flow more and faster," Erza said. "We need to take Juvia to Wendy, quickly, in case there is still hope for her, although there might be internal bleeding..."

Gray quickly and carefully picked up Juvia in an off bridal style position. Natsu and Erza carried Elfman while Lucy watched carefully for the murderer, hands on Taurus' key, in case they came back to strike again. When emerging into the guildhall, they so no sign of Juvia's attacker. Gray carefully set Juvia down on one table in the middle of the guildhall, sitting down next to her, while Natsu dumped Elfman on the table next to her. Lucy started to look around for medical supplies along with a summoned Loke and Erza called out all of the members of the other groups' names.

"I'm going to look in the infirmary," Lucy said. "There's no first aid kit around here - not that it would do much..."

"You'll go into the infirmary just to be stabbed by the murderer like Juvia," Erza replied, voice slightly shaking. "We can't risk anyone else, Lucy... _I _am not going to risk anyone else, especially another team mate."

Then there was a noise from the guild doors. Gray jumped to his feet, head whipping around, just to relax when Laxus, the Thunder God Tribe, Jet, and Droy ran in.

"We heard your shouts, Erza," Laxus said. "What's going on? Did you find - " His voice broke off when he saw Juvia and Elfman's bodies, one with a sword and both still.

"Are th-they...dead?" Bickslow whispered, subdued for once.

"Elfman is passed out. He was in the library. Juvia was stabbed on our way back," Natsu explained as he stared at the floor. "We... we need Wendy. We need to do _something._"

"The infirmary," Droy said, but when Erza explained her reasoning, his shoulders sagged as he agreed.

"There must be something we can do!" Evergreen shouted. "I haven't known her for long, but Juvia seemed like a good person, even if she came from Phantom!"

"Jet can grab Wendy," Lucy suggested. "I know you talk about there being a murderer on the loose, but he can just go a bit behind the bar, where we can still see, and call out their names? They've got to be almost done searching the right wing."

"I'll do that," Jet said, nodding, and with a bit of dust in his wake the man ran to the other side of the guildhall.

Just then Mirajane's group walked downstairs, with similar reactions to Laxus' team but with the exception of Lissana and Mirajane running over to their brother before realizing Juvia's state.

"T-there are some towels behind the bar," Mirajane said. "There might also be something else. I'll get them and... and see if I c-can do anything." Lissana and Cana ran over to where Mirajane had talked about, near although slower than Jet, as they dug through old supplies.

Juvia suddenly moaned, prompting everyone to rush around her except for Lissana, Cana, and Jet. Blinking her eyes open, she looked around through a haze of pain. "Juvia... Juvia..."

"What? What is it, Juvia?" Gray asked.

"wants... Gray... -ma to hold..hand..."

His face pale and screwing his face up to hold his tears back, Gray held out his hand, gripping Juvia's. Her grip tightened until he was feeling a world of pain - almost as if she wanted him to take a share of what she was feeling. The water mage slowly turned her head slowly and painfully to face him as the entire room went deathly silent.

With a small gasp, she wheezed, "Juvia... I...love..."

Then her hand slackened, her eyes closed, and her entire body relaxed as the Rain Woman went limp.

Eyes going wide, Gray stood up, her hand falling from his. "Juvia? Juvia?" he asked frantically. "C'mon Juvia, open your eyes! What were you going to say? Please tell me - tell me that you weren't going to say that..."_  
_

Lucy, Mirajane, Droy, and Happy all burst into tears. The three members of the Thunder God Tribe looked uncomfortable, Evergreen sniffling and pulling out a handkerchief. Erza's gaze narrowed, a fierce glare directed at nobody, and Natsu's hair shielded his eyes as he grimaced. Laxus plopped down onto a table, hands going to cover his eyes as he leaned down.

Gray cut himself off with a roar. With one quick movement, he took the sword out of Juvia's body and threw it across the room - but in his grief, his aim and strength was lousy and it flew only a couple of tables before skittering on the floor. A large and gaping hole emerged from the body of Juvia. Gray sat back down, the roar dying in his throat.

Footsteps sounded as Cana and Lissana raced back with nothing to show for their trip in their hands. They hadn't been too far away and the rest of the group could see tears in their eyes as they knew that Juvia was gone.

"T-the sword... looks like the one... i-in M-master's office," Mirajane finally said. "Whoever took it... killed...J-Juvia..."

"Dammit!" Cana cursed, wiping away her flowing tears. "If only we had been more careful when looking upstairs. We might have caught the person trying to steal the sword."

Jet appeared beside them then, and a few echoes told everyone that the final group was returning. Other than flour covering their faces - although Gajeel's was mostly wiped off - they looked fine. Looks of dismay appeared on their faces when they saw the scene before them.

"We were too late?" Jet asked. No one made a movement that would suggest otherwise, and his eyes widened as he staggered over to Droy.

"What do you mean, too late?!" Gajeel growled. "It _can't be - _Wendy, do your stuff. Ya gotta save the Rain Woman!"

Wendy nodded through tears and quickly started a healing spell over Juvia. The blue light shone over the body but nothing noticeable occurred. After almost half a minute, it finally occurred to everyone that she was trying to heal a dead body. "Wendy," Natsu said in a gentle voice for once. "It's... you can't save her. She's too far..."

"Gone. D-dead! I know that!" Wendy cried, continuing her healing spell. "But if I had been here sooner, if I had... if I had known what would happen..."

"But no one knew what would happen," Carla said softly. "Even I. Not a vision about this dreadful night ever appeared to me."

Levy held up her notepad. "Did... anyone notice if Master's sword had still be there when we found him earlier?"

"It was," Erza confirmed. Levy scribbled a few words down, Freed walking over to her. Once the rune mage had, they started talking in hushed voices that no one else could exactly understand, although traces of "killed" and "sword" were heard.

"Then somehow, while we were searching for Elfman, someone managed to sneak away, steal Gramp's sword, and stab her," Laxus grunted.

"It could have been an intruder," Lucy argued softly. "I find it hard to believe that someone here would try to kill Juvia..."

"Did you finish the runes outside, Freed?" Max asked. Freed looked up from his discussion with Levy.

"Yes, I did."

Erza asked, "Is there any way you could... draw some more that would make us know if anyone else, like a trespasser, was here?"

Freed shook his head grimly. "I'm sorry, but I am afraid not. My magic power is running low from casting runes so large and so obsolete." With that, he went back to his talk with Levy as the two wrote down more words, drew more charts, and did other sleuth work that would help them to decide who could have murdered Master Makarov and Juvia. Most watched on with the exception of Gray.

"A sword...who is best at wielding swords?" Laxus asked quietly in a circle of Evergreen, Bickslow, and himself. The three gathered close to Levy and Freed but not close enough so that they could hear what they were saying, although with his sharper ears Laxus could listen a little.

"Pantherlily, Erza, Gray, Freed, Gajeel," Evergreen listed shakily. "That's the core of Erza and Pantherlily's strength, after all, and Gray does that ice-make sword and Gajeel the dragon-sword sometimes... Freed uses his sword for runes, but still knows how to wield one."

"Erza and Gray couldn't have killed Juvia," Bickslow pointed out. "And Gajeel's magic turns his arm into a sword, doesn't it? That's a lot different than holding one, I bet."

"That just leaves Pantherlily and Freed," Laxus said.

"Except Freed was drawing the runes, and someone almost always saw him. There was never enough time for him to grab a sword and kill Juvia," Evergreen defended her teammate.

Bickslow nodded. He said, "Although Lily might be a doubtful choice as well. He's been stickin' next ta all of those other cats the whole time."

Just then, both Levy and Freed stood up. "We've got a new list," Levy said, blinking back tears. "Those who couldn't have killed Juvia include the rest of her group as well as Elfman." She lifted a hand to wipe away a tear that had spilled.

"Possible suspects," Freed continued, as Levy was incapable of doing so, "Include everyone else." He held up the list for everyone to see.

Gray stared at Juvia's body for a moment before facing Freed and Levy, his eyes watery. "Let's see this damn list," he said, voice steadily rising. Several of the other guild members jumped in surprise as his voice leveled to almost a full on scream.

_"I'm done with these murders, and I'm going to find out who killed Gramps and Juvia!"_

* * *

**Sorry Gray, but nothing's done yet.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! ****If you have anything to say about it, please review telling me what you think! ****Also, if you like my writing and want to see more, please check my profile for more of my stories or answer my poll.**

**I also constantly update my profile with the status of whatever I'm writing - for example, I updated with how close I was to finishing the fifth chapter of this two or three times.**


	6. Reality

The clock struck one.

Everyone stood in silence as Gray's outburst rang in their ears. Finally, Freed spoke up.

"I have runes drawn around and over the entire building, including the poolside," he said quietly. "The rules state that no human, creature, or anything alive may enter or leave without myself disabling the runes. Not even Levy may erase or modify the runes - I made the orders obstinate and unyielding. We are the only ones in the building, currently."

"Unless anyone was hiding in a room we didn't search earlier. If an intruder were hiding before you set up the runes..." Mirajane replied.

Max disagreed. "There can't be. We searched the entire guild earlier."

"Our team may have skirted over a few places in the library," Erza said after thinking for a moment. "We were so focused on finding Elfman that we did not pause to look around the rest of the library after discovering him in the boxes within a minute or two of entering that room."

"Our group didn't get a chance to look over in the downstairs infirmary," Wendy admitted sheepishly.

"...No one would want to kill Juvia. Or Gramps." Gray hung his head as he looked down at Juvia. "No Fairy Tail member would. There _must _be an intruder."

His words were followed by silence yet again - it was if Gray had the power to make everyone quiet just by telling them what was on his mind, simply because he seemed to be the most in grief over Juvia's death. He wasn't the only one - Gajeel was holding back tears, as he'd known Juvia the longest, and most of the girls couldn't help but sniffle and wipe tears away. And yet Gray was most in pain - maybe, Lucy and Levy the book lovers theorized, he really had loved her in a not-so-platonic way.

But maybe everyone's silence was in respect for their lost ones. Maybe it was because the pain of losing Makarov, Juvia, and almost Elfman had finally hit them. With bowed heads and clasped hands, everyone stood in one large semi-circle that wound the tables with Elfman and Juvia lying on them.

_Juvia...I...love..._

In the movies and books, the dying character always got to finish their last sentence.

_But this is reality, _the thought echoed in Gray and several others' heads. _This bullshit world that is taking away my nakama!_

Several minutes later, the remaining guild members slowly started to talk again, like before. Most of it were theories about the murderer - an intruder with teleportation magic, maybe? A guild member with a hidden motive?

"I agree with what Gray said earlier," Natsu said, surprising everyone. The pyromaniac _never _agreed with Gray, _never _said Gray's name. "I rather believe in an intruder before my friends! We need to look for this bastard."

"But what if one of us is killed...?" Wendy asked. "Do we have something that can help us out here?"

"We have megaphones in Master's office, that we would keep for events. We can use those in order to shout to each other in we are in trouble," Mirajane said as she started backing up towards the bar. "Unfortunately, Warren took all of our surveillance lacrimas to his home yesterday, or else I would have suggested those earlier."

"Loke can make light in the dim hallways," Lucy said.

"And I have _Solid Script: Write!" _Levy said.

Natsu lit his hands on fire. Lightning surged around Laxus, Evergreen let a few bolts of her fairy magic loose, and Bickslow's eyes glowed.

"A lot of us seem to have a magic that can let us create at least a littleeee light," Cana realized as she drew a card with the picture of the sun on it. Her speech was still slurred and although better than her old drunken state, she still seemed to stumble a little.

Mirajane returned with the megaphones, handing one to about half of the guild members - Erza, Gray, Wendy, Gajeel, Freed, Lissana, Jet, and Max - those who would not be able to produce any sort of light. She gave an apologetic smile to the rest when all eight megaphones were already given out, explaining that there were "no more left".

"Along with those who can create light, those with quick fighting or fleeing skills, and those with megaphones, most of us are well equipped," Erza said. "Why don't we split back up into our groups? However, this time we will take different sides in case a team forgot to check somewhere."

"Thunder God Tribe calls the upstairs," Laxus grunted.

Gajeel glanced at the rest of his team as if sizing them up. "My group will look outside. We got two cats and two agile members. We'll be good."

"Who's the unagile member...?" Levy asked, but decided not to press for the answer when the Dragonslayer did not reply.

"Then our group gets the left side!" Cana cheered. "With the library...where Elfman was found, and the hallway...where Juvia was stabbed..." the drunk's mood quickly fell upon realizing this.

"I'm glad you have enough brains and mind left to remember, Cana," Laxus growled. "I would think you'd be so drunk right now, you wouldn't be able to see the floor until you hit it."

"Laxus!" Mirajane snapped. "Don't stir up trouble!" Laxus glared at her.

"Yeah? Says who?"

"Says _Satan Soul: Si_ -"

"Uh...Mira-nee! Don't start a fight now!" Lissana cried out, grabbing her sister's arm. "What if he's the m-murderer - he'll kill you next!" Laxus redirected his mean look onto Lissana, Mirajane doing the same, although the two stopped their bickering upon the accusation of Laxus being the killer.

"Our group will take the kitchen, then, seeing as that's the last one," Lucy said, breaking the tension. Lissana gave her a relieved look. Everyone slowly broke apart back into their groups, Lucy summoning Loke and Levy a small glowing ball made out of the word _light _that floated in front of her. Laxus' group started upstairs while Gajeel's team walked outside, leaving the other half standing near Elfman and Juvia's tables.

"Hey, Natsu?" Happy mewed as he flew over to his best friend. "Can I stay with your group this time? I'm... scared."

"Sure, little buddy!" Natsu said, ruffling the top of Happy's head fur. "We're down on one member, anyway..."

"Then let us be off," Erza commanded. She turned to face the appropriate direction but quickly faced Mirajane and her group again. "Mirajane...Lissana, Cana, Max... be safe."

Mirajane and Max nodded, Cana waving at them with a loop sided grin and Lissana throwing them one of her many beaming smiles. As soon as the group of four had walked into the hallway where Juvia had been stabbed - marked by the large puddle of blood - the smiles flew off of their faces.

"Well... here we go," Max sighed. "Let's go catch a killer."

* * *

Although he did look around with the rest of his team, Gray's eyes were unfocused. When having nothing to do, he would just stand around, staring lifelessly at the ceiling or a wall.

_Juvia... Juvia..._

_Gray-sama... hold hand... _

_I...love..._

Although the other members looked at him worriedly, they also knew they had a job to do. A quest to complete. So they searched the kitchen, and then the infirmary. As they were talking back in a hallway - Loke leading the way with his orb of light while Natsu guarded the back of the hallway with his flaming fists, effectively making sure they could see ten feet ahead and ten feet behind them. Nothing would surprise them this time.

Lucy replayed the events in her head.

_Juvia thinks that Juvia knows who the murderer is._

Who? How could Juvia have found out so quickly? Before Lucy, who constantly read mystery novels; before Erza, who solved puzzles faster than the rest of them; before Levy, with a genius mind that only thought logically. There were a few explanations - sheer luck, for example, but one theory stuck out to Lucy.

Then Juvia had tried to speak... and then there was the horrible sound and sight of the stabbing. Then there was a gasp.

A gasp.

Hold on.

Lucy hadn't gasped. Juvia hadn't either - her pain was soundless. Happy wasn't with them at the time. Erza and Natsu weren't the type of people to do that - they would most likely gape before shouting something angrily, weren't they? So was Gray, although seeing as it was Juvia that had caused them shock...

"Hey, do any of you remember making a sound when Juvia was... killed?" Lucy asked her team. "I heard a sound, like a gasping. I mean, I know it sounds weird, but every little clue counts, doesn't it?"

"I do not recall making any noises," Erza said. "But I did hear exactly that - an intake of breath." Natsu and Gray both agreed to the same thing - not making, but hearing, the gasp. Natsu also said he hadn't smelled the air before Juvia was stabbed, and afterwards he couldn't have - the scent of blood overtook everything. Suddenly, the trivial clue seemed to be a lot more important.

"So the noise came from the murderer," Lucy said. "He or she did this because they were shocked - they couldn't help themselves." That one theory was making terrible sense, now. "Then there these really loud footsteps - like the murderer was stomping away. A male?"

"Are you saying...?" Natsu stared at her with wide eyes.

Lucy was on a roll, now. "What if the murderer didn't mean to kill Juvia? Maybe they meant to get someone else, like Erza or myself, instead, but it was too dark for them to see anything. Guys...what if the murderer is a close friend of Juvia's?"

Her theory was starting to take flight, and Lucy hated every second of it.

"A close friend?" Erza echoed. "Gajeel, Lissana, Pantherlily. Maybe Mirajane, but were we not her 'closest friends'?"

Lucy nodded, frowning. "So it could have been one of them... or maybe my theory is wrong."

"I can't imagine any of them killing Juvia, though!" Natsu said. "We're all nakama! We're all Fairy Tail! I don't even know who to trust anymore!"

His words rung in everyone's ears - who could they trust? No one, except for the five of them. Any one else could have swung that sword - except maybe Carla, but what if she was working together with someone? And if taking into account that there could be two people working together, they not a single person was completely innocent except for three people: Master Makarov, Juvia, and Elfman. The two dead and one passed out. Even Pantherlily could have swung the sword in his larger form. The five of them couldn't be considered innocent of killing Makarov, although Natsu, Erza, Lucy, and especially Gray could not have killed Juvia.

Then there was the gasp. A close friend? Someone they'd considered an ally? Or, maybe someone who already regretted their actions such as Wendy, Lissana, Mirajane, Levy - in other words, just about every female. Heavy footsteps could mean anything - Gajeel, with naturally loud footsteps from his metal boots? Evergreen, who wasn't used to using a sword? Wendy when the sword was almost too big for her?

Anyone could be the enemy. Although the four of them were the most unlikely ones, seeing as none of them could have participated in the fourth murder, they were still suspects.

"Well, you could trust us, Natsu, since none of us could have killed Juvia. Have you ever seen me with a big sword before?" Happy asked as he hovered over the Dragon Slayer.

Natsu managed to give a small grin as he reached up to pat Happy on the head. "That's right, little buddy... I trust everyone in this room."

However, everyone couldn't help but think in their mind if Natsu's words rang true - or if there was another piece to the puzzle that they were missing.

**Please read and review! Those are what make me update quickly as when I feel that I have more readers, the more (good) pressure I feel to complete the next chapter.**


	7. Stranger, Shout, and Speech

After a long time of searching, every group finally decided that there was no intruder to be found. They met up into the guildhall, confused, weary, and done with the murders and the murderer. Most did not spare a glance at Elfman and Juvia out of grief for Juvia's death.

"I wish we could go home..." Wendy said as she sat down at a table, sniffling as she did.

Carla flew up on the table and patted her back. She gave her charge a small smile. "There, there, Wendy. We will catch the murderer soon and then we can go back and sleep."

"So what should we do next?" Laxus asked, almost snapping. "I am not going to just run around the guild achieving nothin' and getting more of us killed. I want to pound this killer to a pulp!"

"We could wait here until morning breaks," Lucy yawned. "I'm _tired."_

"Don't sleep now!" Natsu said, shaking her until she was wide awake and slapped him. "What if the killer gets you?"

Just then, there was a shout from outside - an unfamiliar noise. It couldn't have been one of them, either, because all alive and dead wizards except for Master Makarov were in the main hall. It was a stranger - an intruder.

_The _intruder?

The one who had killed Master and Juvia?

The end to the madness?

Everyone rushed outside. However, the noise led them to the entrance with the stone gate, where Freed's runes ended. Banging on the rune wall outside was what appeared to be a male traveler, with dark black hair and new yet seemingly dusty or worn clothes that seemed to be a sharp looking suit.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail, sir - who are you?" Mirajane asked as she pushed herself to the front of the group. Her voice was deliberately light hearted and happy in order to convince the stranger that nothing was wrong, but as she spoke her voice still trembled a little. "It's a little late out, you know."

"I'm sorry - I'm on my way to Crocus. It's just, all of the inns and hotels here are closed, and I was told by a local here that you Fairy Tail people might have a room open for me," the man said. "Is there anyway...? I'm sorry it's so late at night, but there seems to be a lot of you folks still here."

Mirajane frowned. "Just wait one teensy second please, sir! I need to know what the rest of my guildmates think. See if they approve." She turned back to the large group behind her, all frozen stiff in shock and terror with wide eyes. Mirajane quickly lowered her voice and gathered everyone around her.

"He seems alright..." Mirjane said. "But maybe he has rune magic and is the murderer? What if he disabled the runes for a moment, left the guild, and turned around to pretend to be a traveler? This may be a trap to get himself in close with us so he can kill us easier."

"That's one way to put it," Levy replied. "However, it's very unlikely that he would do this - he has the element of surprise, you see, striking in the dark right after we believe that there is no intruder."

"I say we put him in an isolated, locked room," Natsu huffed. "Like, the lounge. 'Cause even with this physio running around we still gotta show Fairy Tail hospitality! I say he stays in a room where no one can get to him and no one can kill him, and tomorrow he'll be on his merry way without every knowing that we had a serial killer picking us off."

"The police should come in the morning, and then he'd know" Lucy pointed out. "But... I feel bad for him. Maybe I could take him to my apartment?"

"That wouldn' work. What if _you _are the killer, and you use this opportunity to run away before we catch ya?" Gajeel questioned. "Na, I agree with Salamander. We put him in some isolated room."_  
_

"So... we're taking him in? In a building filled with dead bodies?" Erza said. "I disagree."

Mirajane said, "Fairy Tail hospitality. And really, do we have a choice?"

_Yes, we do, _some members such as Laxus and Gray thought, but they did not speak up. After all, what if the traveler grew suspicious? What if he was the murderer, doing the strange theory Mirajane had described, and if they left him alone and not locked in an isolated room, he might somehow break into the guild and murder all of them?

"Fine," Bickslow said. "This'll stir things up!" Several other members nodded in agreement, most voicing that they rather go with Natsu's plan than accidentally let the murderer loose.

Turning back, Mirajane beamed at the stranger. "Come in, come in!" She cheered. "We'll get a room set up for you right away."

Levy and Freed set to work on disabling the runes only in the gate and only long enough for the traveler to come in - security measures, they told him. Meanwhile, Jet ran back into the guild as fast as his magic would let him, picking up Juvia and Elfman's bodies as quickly yet carefully as possible. Moving them into the kitchen - the wide open space, he reasoned, would be good, although his mind was scattered in panic and the better choice of the infirmary didn't even occur to him. He set the bodies down onto the ground just in time and raced back into the hall to see the rest walk in.

"Nice place," the traveler whistled. "By the way..."

"Mirajane," the white haired woman supplied.

"Mirajane. Where is-"

"The body?" The statement slipped out of Wendy's mouth before she realized it, and she let out a small _eep! _upon realizing it. Everyone stared down at her in horror.

"The... the what? Body?"

"It's another word we use for the de - the ale, sir!" Lucy quickly said, adding a nervous chuckle. "Because we have this guild member named Cana, who reallllly likes drinking, and she prefers to call her alcohol her boyfriend rather than just a drink. She's kinda weird like that."

The stranger stared at Mirajane. Then at Wendy. A frown emerged onto his face. "Um, right. Anyway, I was wondering where a communication lacrima I can use is? I need to talk to my boss. Let him know I'm almost to Crocus for my work."

Mirajane nodded, relieved that he'd dropped it. "Sure! We have one in our Master's office!" At this, Jet waved his hands at her in panic, letting her know that he had _not _moved Makarov's body. "Ah...why don't you go into one of our waiting rooms?"

The traveler looked at Mirajane with a strange look of confusion on his face before agreeing. After being lead to the left wing of the guildhall by Bickslow and and Max - a very neutral and safe pair that probably wouldn't try to murder each other, they reasoned, Mirajane, Jet, and Gray hurried upstairs to Master Makarov's office, Jet and Gray joining her for her own protection as well as to make sure she wouldn't run off as the murderer.

"Should we move Gramps, too?" Gray wondered as they entered.

"We don't need to now. After all, we've already moved Juvia and Elfman, but that's destroying a lot of evidence," Mirajane replied as she grabbed the communication lacrima.

"So what you're saying is that we need to keep the crime scene intact," Gray summarized.

"For now? Yes. Maybe if something comes up later, however..."

They headed back downstairs, Mirajane placing the communication lacrima on the table of the waiting room before closing and locking the man inside. If the traveler knew he was now trapped, he didn't shout or scream anything that made everyone aware that he knew.

Mirajane, Jet, and Gray made their way back to the guildhall.

"So... what now?" Laxus said, echoing his words from earlier.

"We never took shadow and invisibility magic into effect," Erza said. "Or any other magic, for that matter."

"What? You want us to split back up again? And get killed?" Laxus growled._  
_

Levy frowned. "What other choice do we have, Laxus? Sit around until morning comes and let the killer slip away? Or risk our lives like Juvia did to make the guildhall a safer place? What if we never catch the murderer, and they lurk around every night until we have to abandon the guildhall from the murders that have occurred? Think about it, Laxus - if this enemy has magic, they may be able to kill all of us, or at least injure all of us, at once before finishing us off if we all stick closely together."

"If he or she had magic, wouldn't that person kill Juvia with it?" Lucy wondered. "And we still don't know how Master Makarov was killed... have we really searched his body completely yet?"

"True," Laxus admitted. "Maybe staying here will get us killed. But for sure, if we go out into that hallway _right now, _then we are going to be killed. There's almost no doubt about it!"

"Or, we go out into a hallway and we catch the killer right away," Natsu argued. "You dunno what's going to happen out there! I wanna catch Gramp's and Juvia's murderer, and I rather do it now than before someone else gets hurt! And what if one team didn't search hard enough?"

"We have had plenty of time to look for someone this time," Erza said, "However, we never remembered to look for a magic user - did you even ever use your nose, Wendy, Gajeel, Natsu? Levy, Lucy, you know enough from reading fiction and mystery books of what to look for, and yet you two have acted so frazzled ever since the first death. Cana's finally sober enough to walk straight, and Gray is finally trying to block out Juvia long enough to search seriously. But before now, none of us have been trying to catch the murderer! We all think that he will hiding in a box or underneath a table, waiting to give up.

"But he is _not going to give up!" _she continued, eyes flashing. "And neither will we! Laxus, we will look around the guild again, and we will catch that killer! My group will go to the kitchen. We will go over the bodies of Elfman and Juvia. We will to try to wake up Eflman. We will also try to find more about Juvia's death. Carla, Wendy, Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlily will search outside again. The Thunder God Tribe will sweep _every single little corner _and investigate more into Master's death. Finally, Mirajane, Cana, Max, and Lissana will look in the library and every room but the waiting room - and _I mean look. _Cana, Mirajane, get your heads into the game! You weren't acting like they were before! We need to shut down this mystery and we need to do it _now!_" At the end of this loud and rousing speech everyone sat or stood in still silence, shocked by Titania's words.

"I haven't been using my nose much," Natsu agreed.

"I can study one of my mystery novels again!" Levy said, whipping Gale-Force Reading glasses and a book out of seemingly nowhere. Lucy looked on in interest.

"Juvia's dead...and I'll find out who killed her," Gray said.

Erza nodded in approval as even Laxus agreed with her plan, even if it was almost identical to what they did earlier. "Levy, put the book away. You willjust have to remember what you have already read; we don't have time for reading. Although, I do like all of your attitudes. It is time we finally take the advantage on our home playing field!"

Several guild members cheered. They divided up into their groups within half a minute and started towards their respective destinations. Erza's group first looked in a room near the kitchen while Mirajane started towards the library. The Thunder God Tribe moved upstairs while the Dragonslayers, the cats, and Levy walked outside.

With a new spirit, the remaining members of Fairy Tail started to search the rooms in the guildhall again. They walked and looked slowly, afraid of missing an inch of space not yet searched. They explored, now determined to find the killer and unaware that back in the kitchen, lying on the ground, a hand twitched.


	8. Double Take

**Sorry for the long wait! I'm very sorry if this chapter doesn't make any sense to you - if any facts or things described/said in this chapter are wrong, then please review telling me this.**

The team consisting of Mirajane, Lissana, Cana, and Max looked around in certain areas in the left wing of the guild. None of them had magic they thought they could use to catch an intruder so they used their eyes and hands to look around.

In the storage room, Mirajane and Max searched together while Cana, who had found booze somewhere and was drunk again, and Lissana looked on the other side of the room. After about ten minutes, they went onto the next room, and then another ten minutes later the library.

Mirajane entered the library first, looking around before starting in the first row of bookshelves. Cana stumbled over to the nearest wall, which was covered by the bookshelf, and walked down that column of shelves there. Lissana and Max did the same as Mirajane but with different bookshelves.

Minutes passed, and Mirajane found no one. _I'm not sure if I should be relieved or frustrated, _Mirajane thought - after all, if they found no intruder then either they weren't searching hard enough...

...or one of their friends was the murderer.

She happened to pass by Cana, who gave her a tipsy wave. "Heyyy, Mira," Cana started. Before she could say whatever she was about to, she tripped over a book in surprise. Somehow, she managed to grab onto a book on the shelf behind her, which was leaning against the wall. The book and several others near it fell down onto the ground, some onto Cana's feet. The drunk mage yelped in pain and surprise.

"Cana! Are you o-" Mirajane stopped to stare at the walls behind the books. This area of the library that they were in was one hardly touched, Mirajane could tell, from the layers of dust on the bookshelves Cana hadn't touched. However, behind the books was not the wooden back of the bookshelf, but what looked like red wallpaper, and quite a few yards away from the shelf than where the wall _should _be.

Hold on...

The waiting room's wallpaper was the same shade of red.

Mirajane frowned, and pulled a few more books off and set them on the table behind her. Wasn't that the couch she could see?

Feeling that she wasn't pulling off books fast enough, Mirajane instead turned into her Satan Soul form and moved the entire bookcase behind her, narrowly avoiding Cana's head in doing so. Cana and Mirajane both gasped as this happened. As there was no back to it, several books fell out as she swung it behind her floating form.

Max ran from behind another bookcase. "Whoa, Mira! What are you doing...? " he stopped in his tracks when he saw what was behind the bookcase.

There was no wall - the bookcase had stretched and touched the ceiling. Instead, there was a very short walk to the waiting room down a tiny hallway about the length of a desk. Something about the same size as that desk seemed to be blocking half of the entrance to the waiting room. Above whatever was blocking - it was dark in the hallway, making it impossible to tell what - was what seemed to be empty space.

"It's a... a secret passage!" Cana exclaimed.

Mirajane reverted back to her normal form and took a step forward into the small and dark hallway, uneasy and foreboding feelings settling in her stomach. Cana and Max stayed were they were, both turning around to greet a confused Lissana. Then, the other three followed the Demon Mirajane.

Something seemed odd about the space above the object. It just didn't feel...right. Upon reaching it, Mirajane put a delicate hand to what she thought was empty air, but instead the fingers felt glass.

Mirajane frowned, and pushed on the glass slightly. It seemed to budge a little - although that might have just been Mirajane's imagination. She pushed again, harder.

The glass creaked as it fell onto the ground in front of the blocking object, out of Mirajane's view. Mirajane felt the strange object to feel wood. Trying to remember the layout of the waiting room, she realized that it was a half-bookcase in front of her.

_Then..._

Once again in Satan Soul form, Mirajane vaulted over the bookcase and onto the floor of the waiting room, ignoring the other three's yelps of surprise. With a smug grin similar to those she wore as a teenager, Mirajane glanced around the waiting room where the stranger was supposed to be using the communication lacrima...

...and the large smirk faded into pure shock.

* * *

The team consisting of Lucy, Natsu, Happy, Erza, and Gray had finished looking around their area, confident that no intruder was hiding there - with the combination of Gray's determination to catch Juvia's killer, Natsu's nose, and the help of Lucy's spirits Virgo and Loke, there was no doubt that they were alone in the right wing of the guild hall.

The five emerged into the main room, deciding to wait for the others there. None of the other groups seemed to be done looking.

Lucy sent her spirits back to the spirit world before sitting down to talk to Erza in hushed tones. Gray sat down on the other side of the girls' table, moping, while Natsu and Happy laid on yet another and waited.

Suddenly, Natsu sprang up onto the table. "I smell Mira, Lissana, and their group!" The other members of their small team also stood up. Unlike Natsu, however, their feet were firmly planted on the wooden floor.

There was no scream for help, no horrible sinking mood that Natsu could hear or tell. His spirits rose - maybe there were no intruders, after all?

However, Max and Mirajane soon emerged carrying something.

_A body! _the others thought in horror.

_Is it Lissana? _Natsu thought, heart sinking.

_Cana? _Gray wondered, frowning.

Luckily, the boys were wrong as Mirajane, Max, Lissana, and Cana all walked out into the guildhall, safe and sound. However, it was the stranger that Max and Mirajane were struggling to carry who would never wake up.

"I... I can't believe it!" Lucy gasped. "I thought that he was locked up in the waiting room? How did you find him?"

"He was on the floor, with this around his neck," Max replied hoarsely as he shifted so that everyone could see the stranger's neck. There was a rope, loose around the man - not enough to suffocate, but maybe enough to be uncomfortable.

"I loosened it as soon as we found him," Lissana explained. "It's..._horrible_, what the murderer did to this poor man!"

Just then, Levy, Gajeel, Wendy, Pantherlily, and Carla entered. They all had mixed reactions upon seeing the dead body - all negative. Fear, disgust, and surprise were evident on the five's faces.

"Another murder?" Gajeel growled.

"This is seriously getting out of hand," Erza said, nodding.

"We're all here except for Laxus' group," Mirajane said as she joined the group - Max and she had put the traveler's body on a table behind them. "Is there a chance...that one of them in that group is the murderer?"

Gray glanced upstairs, where the blonde Dragonslayer should have been searching along with Evergreen, Freed, Bickslow, Jet, and Droy - the largest group out of all of them. He hesitated, about to speak, but found himself closing his mouth before voicing his opinion.

"There could be," Levy said, looking troubled. "But... it is easier to view this murderer as an intruder, a stranger. Now that we know that it is not this traveler... we are back at square one."

"I wouldn't say 'square one,' Levy - we know for sure that there isn't someone in the kitchen where we searched, for example," Lucy argued.

"There's no one outside, either," Pantherlily meowed.

Max shrugged, almost looking nonchalant. "We were pretty through in looking through everywhere... and we aren't the first group to, anyway. Multiple people going through the same room without finding anyone? If there is an intruder, he or she is either upstairs or very good at sneaking around."

Meanwhile, as Max talked, Levy took out her pad of paper, writing down her thoughts - who was in what group, what group searched where, possible suspects of each murder. When she was done, she looked back up at the steps - just in time to see Jet racing down them at top speed. A few seconds later, Bickslow, Evergreen, and Freed followed, Droy even farther behind them as he attempted to catch up.

The plant mage, however, tripped on the last step and fell face first. No one seemed to notice as they ran and joined the group, Jet and the Thunder God Tribe hardly sparing the dead body of the stranger a look in their urgency.

"It's Laxus!" Jet exclaimed. Even he looked slightly worn out from his race down the steps. "He went missing while we were searching for the intruder!"

Everyone jumped in surprise.

"Are you sure?" Lissana asked, startled.

"This is...wow," Cana said, unable to find any words to describe her reaction. Of course, the amount of alcohol she had consumed earlier may have had something to do with her thought processing and speech.

"Of course we're sure!" Evergreen snapped. "He's missing, and we have no idea where he's gone!"

Erza frowned. "Did he maybe go to kill the traveler, and is now hiding in the guild building?" At this, everyone gulped. If Laxus was the murderer and hiding in his lightning form, he would be able to catch _anyone _by surprise. He could crush all of them easily if he tried to. It was why he was an S-Class mage, and a leading factor in deciding guild events and plans.

"Or, he may have attempted to sneak past us... to get to the kitchen!" Lucy said, a strange look on her face as she created the scenario in her head, thinking of many different possible theories, each more crazy that the last as they flung through her mind and her head. "What if he wants to kill Elfman now, after killing Juvia, Master, and the stranger?"

Mirajane and Lissana were the first to start for the kitchen. Evergreen - she was_ closest_ to the kitchen doors, she later argued - flung open the doors leading into where Elfman and Juvia were _supposed _to be laying on the cold tile floor, side by side, one knocked out and the other dead.

Everyone crowded into the kitchen, apprehensive and frightened. They didn't want to hear the mournful wail. They didn't want to hear the gasp of surprise. They didn't want the news that yet another of their precious guild mates' lives had been taken.

Mirajane stared at where Elfman had been laying on the floor earlier. "He's... he's..."

Lissana ran in front of them. She leaned down. "He's still here!" she shouted happily. "Alive, still not awake - but alive!"

Natsu and Max cheered while several of the girls nodded or made a noise of excitement. Gray gave a soft smile that no one seemed to notice, lost in his own thoughts.

_At least they didn't have someone important to them stolen..._

There were a few minutes of rejoicing - Elfman was alive, Laxus was not a definite killer.

Hold on.

"But if Laxus didn't disappear to kill Elfman," Mirajane said, "Where could he have gone? Did he kill that stranger?"

Just then, they heard the man of the hour's yell.

_"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" _

"It sounds like the scream came from upstairs!" Wendy cried out. "Isn't that where Jet's group came from? Why couldn't they find Laxus earlier if he's... upstairs now?"

Erza faced the kitchen doors, her mouth set into a grim line, and pushed them open with extreme force as she lead the others out into the guild hall._ "It's time to face the truth," _she said morbidly.

**Please read and review, especially if you saw a mistake with grammar or any plot holes! I'm doing my best to stay consistent and not give too much or too little away.**


	9. A Note

**If you have an accusation to make - if you think someone is the murderer - then go ahead and state who you think it is! At least one or two reviews have already. While it doesn't influence the murderers, as almost everything except for minor details is already planned out, I do like to hear your opinions.**

Feet pounded up the stairs. Tension grew thick. Dread pounded in everyone's stomachs. Most had an awful feeling of what they were about to find, and did _not _want to be proven right. A very faint light lacrima shone above the stairs connecting the first story to the second. Electricity fizzled in the air, traces still fading away from the roar that had either occurred without saying the full spell's name... or cut off by an attack.

The large group, dwindling in numbers rapidly, rushed upstairs to see exactly what they had feared: Laxus, laying with his back to the floor, his cold, shocked face still appearing to everyone who viewed him. The horrible sword that had already been stained red with Juvia's death laid next to him, a fresh coat of red painted on it. It appeared that the murderer had stabbed Laxus in his front, letting the Dragon Slayer fall before setting the sword right next to him... and somehow managing to mingle with the crowd again.

From the front, Erza turned around and did a quick tally. It was hard with the guild members running around, several over to Laxus' body in grief, but Erza did it. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion upon realizing that everyone was present.

_Either the murderer is becoming frighteningly better at his skill, or we have somehow missed the intruder... which I still find to be very unlikely._

Apparently Levy thought the opposite however as she ran straight past Laxus' body and the sword - an action very unusual for not only the Solid Script mage but any one who had just seen one of the strongest members of their guild dead on the ground. However, Erza noticed that Levy wasn't running blindly. As usual, she bookworm had an agenda. A plan.

Levy had run into the nearest room, which happened to be Makarov's office.

Erza as well as Gajeel and Pantherlily, who had also apparently noticed Levy's strange actions, followed her in to see her standing in front of Makarov's desk. Written in ink and on a notepad facing the doors were the words _"I did what was right." _Next to the notepad laid a pen, the utensil used to write the note.

"I did what was right...?" Levy echoed.

"The others need to see this," Erza decided as she poked her head out of the office. "Everyone! Get inside! We've found something."

Seconds later, everyone was stuffed into Makarov's office with the exception of Mirajane and the Thunder God Tribe who had stayed behind with Laxus' body. Bickslow gave the lame excuse of wanting to see if "he was really dead", but the comment was not needed as the rest gave them space for their grief.

_Probably not the best decision, _Erza thought, _nor the smartest or wisest. _But she kept quiet about it - like the others, she wanted to hear Levy's reason for going into Makarov's office and her analysis on the note.

"So? Why'd you bail, shorty?" Gajeel asked.

Levy glared at him when he called her "shorty." With a huff, she explained, "I thought that maybe the murderer had killed Laxus and then bolted for the nearest room to hide, which is this room seeing as it's only a few yards away from... the body. Then, I found the note." At this, she held up the pad of paper for everyone to see the chilling words.

"I did what was right," Lucy said. "That sounds like... well, it's the murderer of Laxus for sure."

"Maybe the murderer felt that Laxus was _wrong _in some way? Like, he had to die for some strange reason... because he wasn't a true Fairy Tail member since he'd been excommunicated once, or something," Levy suggested.

"Don't say that!" Evergreen snapped as she walked into the room, Bickslow, Freed, and Mirajane following her. "Laxus was a true Fairy Tail member, through and through! We considered Juvia a true member, and she'd not only belonged to our enemies once but also joined very recently! Lucy, even though she's a newer member. Gajeel, and he hurt three of our own!" The self-proclaimed "Fairy Queen" wiped away a tear. "Laxus... he was..."

"Evergreen..." Levy seemed to be at a loss for words, for once. "I... I didn't mean that. Laxus _was _a true Fairy Tail member, and nothing would have or will ever change that. He saved several lives at Tenrou Island, remember? Even though he didn't have to."

"That's right!" Mirajane agreed, her voice sounding unusually fierce without the need of a demon form.

"Laxus was the strongest member in Fairy Tail," Bickslow said sadly. "And the greatest, too." His babies flew around him, chanting _"Strongest! Greatest! Strongest! Greatest!"_

Freed was silent.

"Since this was written down, I may be able to analyze the handwriting to figure out whose this is," Levy said as she tucked a strand of blue hair behind her ear, already whipping out glasses. "Then we may have our murderer caught, easily!"

She brought out her own paper, drawing a line down the middle. "Everyone will write their name in one column, and our guild name Fairy Tail in the other. Then, I'll take a look at what you've written - your handwriting - and compare that to the handwriting on the note. After analyzing the sample pieces, I may be able to draw out a list or even narrow it down to the murderer. Even if someone has deliberately changed the slant or style of their writing for the note, it should still be a little easy to figure this out. Everyone has their own unique writing style, like always including a heart at the top of their i's."

"So in other words, no handwritin' is safe," Gajeel said with a small smile.

"Something like that," Levy replied, blinking up at him before sitting down at Makarov's chair. "You can start the list, Gajeel."

Soon enough, everyone had written their name and _Fairy Tail _down onto Levy's paper. Just about everyone except for Gajeel, Lucy, Jet, and Droy - Levy's biggest supporters - went back out to Laxus' body, where the Thunder God Tribe and Mirajane had gone back to sobbing over with the newer additions of Lissana and Wendy.

"I-I feel so bad!" Wendy cried. "If only he'd stayed alive long enough, I might have been able to try something!"

"Everyone's just so sad," Lissana sniffed, "That it's making me feel even worse now..."

"Are you sureee he's dead?" Cana slurred. "Justin' case, you know, he's still alive."

"He is," Mirajane replied softly. "I checked his pulse already..."

Freed kneeled next to Laxus, an expression of pain evident on his face. Mirajane took the same position as him to his right, placing a hand on the Rune Mage's shoulders. "I know how hard this for you..." she began.

Freed shook his head. "Did you love Laxus?"

Cana's eyes widened and her face revealed a large cat-grin before remembering the somber mood, the smile suddenly becoming strained. She glanced down at the ground. "Ah...er, everyone who betted against 'Fraxus' or when Freed was going to come out owes me 5,000 jewels," the card mage mumbled. "Not that it matters anymore..."_  
_

Once everyone had done what Levy had commanded them to do, she started to look from the notepad and to the list, scanning for any similarities. Even the slightest slant of a vowel or the way they crossed their t's would help her out in this new mission of hers.

However, after quite a few minutes, Levy realized it was harder than she'd been expecting. On a third sheet of paper, she wrote down several names whose handwriting slightly matched the note's. Then she went over the note again and realized that Natsu's chicken scrawl had nothing to do with the way the constants were positioned in the strange note. After crossing out Natsu's name, Levy stared dejectedly at the list that remained.

There were seven names.

Levy went over the list again - she'd been honest to include her own name on the list - and decided she was being ridiculous. She hadn't written the note, had she? So she crossed out _Levy McGarden _on the list of seven, feeling sorry for the six remaining.

Evauntully, the boring process was over and Levy stood up with her list.

"I'm done," she announced. "This is too hard."

"Wait, so you're giving up?" Lucy asked.

Levy shook her head. "Not exactly..."

"Hold on. Everyone will want to here this, won't they?" Droy wondered.

"Yeah, tell everyone what you've found, Levy," Jet agreed.

This time, Levy answered with a nod of her head, and all of those present in the office of the late Makarov exited in single file. Several looked up from Laxus' body to see what Levy would have to say.

"After a bit of going over everyone's handwritings, I realized that someone could have just used a completely different style to write," Levy admitted. "It was a bit confusing going over the names."

"I knew it," Gray said. "This won't get us any closer to finding out who killed Gramps, or Juvia, or the stranger, or Laxus, will it?"

"Hush!" Erza snapped, giving a glare that would usually scare Gray.

However, Gray was done with being pushed around. He was a _new _Gray, one that wanted to find out who had murdered his Juvia and his Guild Master and now his Guild Master's grandson.

"I'm not going to hush, Erza," Gray replied. "I'm going to give my own opinion. And that is that this idea sucks - not you, Levy. But like you said, someone could've just written the note a bit differently. This is pointless! She can accuse anyone right now, and we'd all believe her!"

"No, Gray, I wouldn't!" Levy retorted. "I'm an honest, good member of Fairy Tail!"

Gray argued, "That's what all of us could have said a few hours ago! But now there's four dead people and anyone could have murdered them! What have we done about it? Nothing! We should have called the Rune Knights hours ago, when there was a chance they'd still respond. Instead we locked ourselves in here with a murderer! A serial killer! What if it's Levy who's been killing these people? What if she is playing us all like a fool?"

"And what if it's _you, _Gray?" Levy wondered. "That'd be a strange plot twist, wouldn't it? Gray, the one who's precious love has been killed. Gray, who wants revenge for his girlfriend's murderer. _Gray, _who never accepted Juvia's feelings, is suddenly also in love with Juvia - except, wait, he stabbed her."

"I didn't stab her and you know that!" Gray shouted. "Erza, Natsu, Lucy - they can all tell you that I couldn't have killed her. I would never hurt Juvia...I never would have! Before everything she was my friend, my nakama!"

"That's what all of us could have said a few hours ago... except now there's four dead people and anyone could have murdered them, remember?" Levy replied bitterly, echoing Gray's words from moments earlier.

There was silence and suddenly Changed Gray as back to Grieving Gray. Sensing that she would be given no more resistance from Gray, Levy turned back to the group. "As I was saying... there is no exact match to the note."

"Is there anyone who's handwriting is slightly similar to the note?" Lissana asked.

For a brief second, Levy looked over the two different papers before nodding. "Four people: Evergreen, Bickslow, Freed, and Cana."

Everyone mulled over it - would the Thunder God Tribe want to kill Laxus? Probably not. However, that only left one suspect: Cana, the drunkard who had "stumbled" and "accidentally" found the dead body of the stranger.


	10. When the Lights Go Out

**Sorry for long wait and shorter chapter, but I couldn't find a better stopping point. Please review!**

The only suspect left whose handwriting was anywhere near the note's - Cana, the drunkard who had "stumbled" and "accidentally" found the dead body of the stranger.

Realization quickly dawned on most of them, and a few backed away in surprise. Cana looked at everyone's faces in slight nervousness, waiting for their reactions, only hiccuping once.

"So... Cana killed Laxus," Evergreen slowly said. "And Juvia, Master, the stranger." _But worst of all, Laxus, _her tone implied, although she did not say it out loud. "Wasn't Laxus a bit... unsavory to Cana earlier?"

"Your discovery of that passage may have not been accidental," Carla hissed. "A ploy to make you seem less suspicious; something many murderers do in mysteries. They interfere with the investigation in a way that makes them seem completely innocent. You put Wendy in danger!" The Sky Dragon Slayer winced, not wanting to be a part of the accusations and arguments.

"I - wait, no - " Cana started, but was interrupted by Droy.

"I knew it!" the plant mage shouted. "When we were kids, you only drew on my face when I fell asleep at the guild once - now, you're killing off everyone! I've never trusted a drunk before... especially you, Cana, who hasn't been sober since she was twelve!"

"Take that back,"Cana growled. "Take back all of that crap you just said, Droy! I trusted _you_, never drew on your face, was sober two weeks ago, and I sure as hell didn't kill anyone!"

"Lies coming from a murderer!" Droy blubbered, waving his hands in the air as he took a step back from the looming Cana. "I never trusted you. You've never been my nakama!"

"Droy, don't say that," Freed snapped. "You have always considered everyone in Fairy Tail your nakama, have you not? Maybe not Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe when we attempted to take over Fairy Tail and held Magnolia hostage with the thunder palace... but I have noticed you sharing drinks with Cana before, taking jobs with Cana and the rest of your team, talking casually to Cana. You are caught up in the heat of the moment - all of you are. Even you, Ever," he said, pointing from Droy to Carla and to Evergreen.

"I've seen Cana be friendly to Juvia, Laxus, and Master," Mirajane said. "It never seemed like she had a vendetta against them..."

"When we attempted to take over Fairy Tail, Juvia sacrificed herself for Cana's sake," Freed said. "Cana had told Juvia then... that she would always be a true member of Fairy Tail. Cana never once doubted or disliked Juvia."

"She was conspiring! Looking for their weak points, whenever she was acting 'friendly' to them!" Droy accused. "How else was she able to off Laxus and Master so easily? Master Makarov was a wizard saint, Laxus an S-Class wizard... yet she managed to murder both in cold blood! I say we do the same to her!"

Cana's eyes grew wide with horror as someone - no one admitted to it later - pushed her into the center of a large circle formed around her. Some, like Mirajane, had shocked expressions on their faces. A few had unsure frowns, like Lucy, as if they were still trying to figure out the puzzle. Others held menacing gazes, wanting revenge for killing their friends.

Erza pushed her way to the center of the circle, facing Cana. She held out her hand, and a large, silver sword of hers appeared. Lifting the sword to Cana's neck, Erza's eyes narrowed.

"Please! No!" Cana pleaded. "I didn't kill anyone, I swear!" She stumbled, eyes wide with disbelief and fear of the wrath of Titania. Execution was near for the card mage...

...or, maybe not.

Erza whipped around to face the crowd. She swung her sword once, not slashing anyone but disturbingly close to the Fairy Tail members closest to her. The sword shielded Cana; the card mage could not be hurt by her accusers.

"Do you call this justice?" Erza thundered. "Penalizing someone who pleads 'not guilty'? About to murder someone who you have no definite proof against? Similar handwriting is only a small fraction of evidence; we'll need more to catch this crafty killer. No harm shall come to Cana until she is proven guilty... and even then, it will be my sword that slices through her. _I _will be the one to dispose of the murderer."

A box of runes suddenly appeared around only Cana. Purple walls of text sprung up, preventing Cana's escape.

"No living creature may enter or exit," Freed said, lowering his rapier. Under green bangs, one eye glowed a deep and dark purple. "It took a while, but my magic had returned enough for this small, simple spell. I am afraid that I can do no more for a while, however..."

"That's good enough," Levy decided, a little shaken from the statements she had heard earlier. She lifted her pen, scanning the runes. "I can't think of any major loopholes. This is the only way to determine Cana's loyalty and innocent for now - if another murder happens, then we can conclude it was not Cana."

"Wait - so someone has to die in order for Cana to be labeled not guilty?" Lucy asked, shifting weight onto one foot in concern for her guild mate.

"Well, we'll do our best to catch the killer before they actually murder another person," Freed replied hastily. "Anyway, is this good enough for everyone?"

"I... I suppose so," Carla said.

"It'll do," Evergreen agreed. "I apologize for my earlier assumption, Cana."

Cana returned a small smile. "Thanks, Evergreen. You two too, Erza, Freed." She gave a small chuckle, glancing to Droy. "I guess I'm sober enough for once, to realize the situation."

Droy glared. Cana quickly averted her eyes.

"Anyway, let's take Laxus' body downstairs with the others," Freed said.

"That's a good idea - but who can carry him?" Lissana wondered. "He's so... big."

"I can," Natsu volunteered somberly as he glanced at Laxus' body, at the man he had once opposed, the man he had once been saved by, and the man who he had fought many times.

"I'll do it too, then," Gajeel said. The two Dragonslayers walked over to the dead lightning wizard, grunting as they picked him up, muscles straining under the weight. The pink haired man and the black haired man led the way downstairs and into the kitchen. Everyone else followed behind, walking slowly.

"Hold on - wait! Don't leave me behind!" Cana shouted, realizing what they were doing. She banged on the walls of the runes. "At least leave me some wine!"

"I'm sorry, Cana," Freed said, bowing his head. "But this... this is the only way to see if you are innocent." He turned back around and walked down the steps.

Everyone else did their best to ignore Cana's protests with a heavy heart.

By the time Freed was on the main floor, Gray was opening up the kitchen doors for Natsu and Gajeel to carry Laxus inside. Freed heard a gasp come from Natsu, and the flame mage muttered something to Gajeel and Gray. Everyone else quickly filled inside - Freed frowned in confusion. Glancing once more upstairs to where he could see a tiny part of his wall of runes where Cana was trapped, Freed hurried behind the bar and into the kitchen.

Laxus' body was on the cold, hard ground when Freed arrived. He had been laid down next to Elfman by Natsu and Gajeel.

Hold on.

Laxus was laid down next to only Elfman.

"J-Juvia... Juvia is..." Gray said. "Juvia is gone."

"She can't have gotten very far!" Natsu said.

"Well, yeah," Lucy agreed, "seeing as she's _dead."_

"Could she have been alive?" Gray wondered, quietly, as a few Fairy Tail members started to look around the kitchen for Juvia. "Is there a way... did she go looking for us?"

Gajeel walked over to once section of the kitchen. "The Rain Woman didn't go over here," he said, gesturing over to where several cabinets and the fridge were. On the floor was a thin layer of flour. "I made this mess earlier when we were searching... but there's no tracks." What he didn't say out loud was that there was no blood trial, no hair, not sign at all that Juvia had ever been in the kitchen, or even existed at all apart from the bit of blood on the sword that had killed her. The sword that had also killed Laxus, that was not present in the kitchen at that current time.

"None of us had taken her pulse," Mirajane said. "Oh, why didn't we think to do that?"

"She should have died slowly after, then, because she was stabbed," Levy pointed out.

Gray thought about the situation to himself. _But what about her body made out of water? And didn't Wendy attempt to heal her, slightly?_

No. It was too soon (wouldn't it always be too soon, though?) to hope that Juvia was alive - Juvia had been stabbed, there had been blood, and Juvia was dead. Someone had moved her body to trick them. Somehow, a person had snuck away from the group when no one was watching or paying attention - during Laxus' death, the handwriting event, and the capture of hopefully innocent Cana.

"I was about to suggest that Juvia had killed Laxus," Erza said. "However, I can distinctly remember Juvia laying on the ground here when we had heard Laxus screaming - seconds before he was murdered by the killer. She was still there when we were running upstairs to check on Laxus."

"True... but then who took her?" Mirajane asked.

"Who is the murderer?" Lucy replied. "That's the same question. The real question is... where is Juvia now?"

Then the lights turned off, plunging the room into darkness with no apparent hope of light.

There was a gasp, several shouts of surprise, and a small scuffle as well as the horrible _shink. _

Body filling with dread, Natsu lit his hand on fire and quickly pushed passed several people - he couldn't name who in the excitement and darkness, the fire flickering over faces he almost didn't recognize - as he spent agonizing seconds attempting to find the light switch. Turning around as the lights flickered on, he saw everyone gathering around the newest body: Droy, with a kitchen knife in his back.

Then there was a howl coming from Jet, plunging the rest in an icy cold river: _"Cana!"_


	11. Faulty

**For Levy's notepad, I'm thinking of either the large yellow pads or the smaller ones that fit into a pocket, with the spiral rings at the very top.**

**Sorry for any mistakes! I'm a bit tired but I wanted to finish this before Monday.**

Everyone glanced to Jet in confusion, morbid excitement, and shock, still dazed from the latest murder. Below, at everyone's feet, Droy laid on the ground with his stomach to the floor and back to the ceiling. A knife was stuck in his back and it was obvious from the paling skin and lack of life and breath that he was almost if not already dead.

"I...I..." Jet huffed. "Cana must have done this..."

"Wait - so you didn't actually see Cana, but you _think _it's her?" Lucy asked.

"It has to be! Who else... why else would Droy be dead in front of us? Who else could have killed him?" Jet said.

Erza shot Jet a critical look. "You're assuming that Cana somehow broke through Freed's enchantments, of which Levy had already made sure no one living could pass through, ran downstairs after us, turned off the lights, stabbed Droy, and managed to slip away without any of us knowing? Somehow, I doubt that... do any of you see Cana in the room? _Did _any of you see her in this room around the time Droy was killed?"

There were murmurs of "no"'s and "I don't think so..." from the crowd, as well as the shaking of heads. After about five seconds, it was evident that Cana had not been sighed in the room.

"It's a bit unbelievable..." Max said.

"I just thought that she would, since she's the murderer," Jet said.

"No, she isn't!" Mirajane replied. "Cana is not the murderer!"

"Well, she was fighting with Laxus earlier! And after Droy said that he had never trusted a drunk, or her... well, that may be incentive enough to kill him, isn't it?" Jet questioned.

"So based off of a few instances, you assume that Cana, who you have known for years, is the killer and the creator of all of this madness," Freed stated, not a tad of emotion present in his voice.

Jet blinked, his voice growing louder and louder as he said, "I... my best friend just died! I don't know how to handle this!"

"We can solve this very easily by going up to where we caught Cana in runes," Levy suggested. "If she's still there, then unless she's somehow tricking us, it should be enough evidence to prove that Cana is not guilty, but in fact innocent."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Wendy exclaimed. Erza led the way again, eerily similar to last time when they had found Laxus' body. In the back of their minds, however, the guild mates were hoping for a different outcome.

Footsteps pounded up the stairs. Silence reigned, the breathing of the Fairy Tail members being the only sound.

The _only _sound.

And, as the dread pooled in everyone's stomachs, the wizards gathered around the box of runes that held a dead Cana, eyes still wide open in shock.

"I... I don't believe it," Freed whispered hoarsely. "Nothing was supposed to get past the runes..."

"And yet someone slipped past?! Nothing alive was supposed to be able to pass - " As Levy broke off mid-sentence, those close to her heard one of her rare cursing. "We didn't make sure that non living things could come through, Freed! Any magic or nonliving objects could have passed through the runes and killed her!"

"I doubt that's the problem," Pantherlily meowed, flying above them as he put a paw to the runes. "I don't _see _any injuries or weapons on or around or near her."

Mirajane started to break down into tears again. Meanwhile, Freed scrambled to take down the runes as he swiped his sword across the purple-lettered box once.

"I guess she wasn't the murderer," Lissana pointed out as she patted her sister on the back.

Freed's mind flashed back to earlier, when Laxus had still been alive, right after letting the stranger into the guild and locking him in the waiting room.

_"I am not going to just run around the guild achieving nothin' and getting more of us killed. I want to pound this killer to a pulp!"_

_Is that not what has happened so far? _Freed wondered as he watched the runes slowly disappear._ So far, all we have achieved is narrowing down the list of suspects with each death that has occurred. We even managed to get an unlucky, innocent traveler killed._

As soon as the runes were abolished, Lissana ran over to Cana and held the card mage up in her arms, inspecting for wounds or damage. After a few seconds, her head raised up to face the waiting crowd.

"There's no external injuries, as far as I can see, and she had no pulse," she reported. "In order for the murderer to murder Cana, however, they would hardly have any time - if any time at all - to kill both Droy and Cana, meaning that the killing itself would be quick, brutal, and sloppy."

Levy nodded, agreeing. "There should be blood everywhere, but there isn't even a weapon that we can use to identify the mode of killing."

"How would someone manage to kill both Droy and Cana, anyway?" Bickslow asked. "'Cause only Jet's fast, but even he wouldn' be able to kill both within... what, seven seconds? How long were the lights off? And he was standin' right near Droy, too."

_Would that make Jet the murderer of Droy? _Freed thought. _Probably not - they were best friends, as Jet pointed out, and the murderer would want to be seen in the back of the crowd, not right next to the dead body. Placement matters not; it means nothing in that situation._

Lucy then spoke up from the back of the crowd. "What if Cana was poisoned? She was the only one drinking anything after Master was killed." The Celstial Spirit Mage was correct on her statement - everyone else had been too nervous, too jittery to eat or drink much.

"We should sniff - I dunno, get near her and see if we smell poison," Gray said. "Someone who knows that sort of smell."

Mirajane stepped forward, wiping tears away. Leaning down next to her sister and fixing her dress, the demon did as Gray suggested. It made complete sense Mirajane would be the one - she had inhaled and consumed poison plenty of times before.

A second later, she fell back, eyes wide with horror. "It's... exactly what Lucy said. Someone poisoned Cana!"

"Then someone snuck poison into the ale Cana was drinking - wait, wasn't she and Elfman having a drinking contest before we found out Master was killed?" Max asked.

"Elfman would be feeling the effects about now, too, then," Evergreen said, eyes wide with worry.

"No one drink or eat anything," Erza swiftly commanded. Although, a few rolled their eyes a the absurd statement - as if they would be consuming _anything _out of fear that it too would cause their deaths!

"Let's take Cana's body downstairs and check on Elfman quickly," Lissana said, Max quickly coming forward to help her carry the card mage down the steps. Everyone rushed into the kitchen to see Elfman's condition.

Once the doors to the guild's kitchen were flung open again, Lissana left Max to support Cana's body by himself while she and Mirajane ran to check on their brother, Evergreen and a few other extremely concerned friends of Elfman following behind more slowly.

"He seems... fine," Mirajane said. "The murderer poisoned the alcohol _after _their drinking competition, it seems."

"So that means that someone specifically targeted Cana," Levy said as she wrote in her notepad. "Someone did this on purpose, to kill _only_ Cana."

"Too many of our nakama are being murdered," Erza said. "The bodies are stacking up very quickly... it seems that the count is rising faster than before!"

"True," Carla agreed as she floated down, wings folding away, to sit down on top of Wendy's blue hair. "First it was Master, and then a while afterwards Juvia... but after the stranger, Laxus, Droy, and Cana were all killed at a much faster rate than the first couple of murders."

Levy leaned on the counter with her notepad and pen, looking down at her notes. "I wonder if there is a resemblance to the murders? Or a connection - or anything to help solve the mystery and catch the killer. Let's see..." _  
_

She scribbled the dead's names on a fresh sheet - _Master Makarov, Juvia, Stranger, Laxus, Droy, _and _Cana. _She then drew a line from _Master Makarov _to _Laxus _and, next to the line, wrote _Close Relation.__  
_

"Hmm..." Then, she circled _Master Makarov, Juvia, Laxus, _and _Cana, _writing _Tenrou Island _around the circles. She also connected everyone but _Juvia _and _Stranger _to one another by lines. To this, she explained on her notepad, they _all joined Fairy Tail before age 15. _Or so she was assuming - she had no idea what Juvia's and Master's age was, or when Master Makarov had joined Fairy Tail. Frowning, Levy cross out her first phrase and instead wrote _joined Fairy Tail before Lucy _instead.

_Not much known to guild _was written in a connecting line to _Juvia _and _Stranger - _although Juvia was no longer considered a new addition, she was still very secretive. In fact, all Levy really knew about Juvia was that she was a water mage, lived in Fairy Hills, used to be in the guild Phantom Lord, and really, really, _really _liked Gray.

The stranger was an easy addition to the latest category - he was a stranger for a reason. Levy hadn't even gotten his name, or who he worked for, or really any personal information from the traveler.

It was sad, Levy reflected, to mourn for the death of a man she had known for less than three hours and a man who she never knew anything about. And yet he'd still trusted Fairy Tail... which had resulted in his death.

More, small connections were made throughout the six people, although Levy started to grow more and more frustrated as time went on. Behind her, she could hear talking and discussing about the murders - who would want to kill Juvia, how Cana had discovered the secret passage, and so on.

Levy glanced back down on her paper. Not a single fact, connection, or _anything _connected the six dead people except for three things: they were all dead, they were all killed on the same night, and they were all murdered in the formerly safe Fairy Tail guild.

The Solid Script mage then decided to flip to a new page after realizing she would go nowhere with her current notes. Going to a fresh sheet of paper, Levy then wrote down everyone dead's name on a separate sheet in the order that they were killed - _Makarov, Juvia, Stranger, Laxus, Droy, Cana._

_Hmm..._

A second later, Levy had gone to yet another new page. This time, she drew a table very similar to the one she had done way back when, when Master Makarov had been the only death. However, in the first row she wrote the dead people's names in each of the boxes save for the first. Then, in the first column she wrote the names of everyone present in the guild after Bisca, Alzack, and Asuka had left at eleven PM. The column included everyone's names, such as the stranger, Makarov, and Juvia, even though the three were all dead.

Master Makarov had his own row completely inked out - a thick black line, because he had been the first one dead and thus could not have killed anyone including Cana's poison, since the poisoning had occurred after his death because of Elfman was still alive. The same was with the stranger.

Juvia's row was similarly inked out at her death and beyond so. This also happened to Laxus' row after his death, and Droy and Cana's after their own killings. Then, being very careful and very precise, Levy wrote _completely innocent _for some of the deaths - Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Erza were completely clean for Juvia's death, for example, and Elfman was _completely innocent _for everything.

And with that, Levy's personal table of who was innocent and who was guilty was finished. She had not a single idea of what to put for anyone else, and she didn't feel like interrogating everyone again... she doubted it would help, anyway. Most spaces were left blank, such as just about everyone for Makarov's death except for the stranger and Master Makarov himself.

Levy faced the rest of her alive and dead guild mates, who hadn't changed their actions from when she had started her lists and notes ten minutes before. Her attention was caught by Mirajane, who had looked to the kitchen clock for the time.

"It's 2:17," Mirajane said. "This has been going on... for quite a while now."

Then Lucy pointed out something very similar, echoing what Freed had realized earlier.

"In the last couple of hours," Lucy said, "They only things that we have accomplished are killing each other, running around in dark hallways, and making lists. We're _hopeless." _

No one disagreed with her.

**One last thing: I'm not sure if I can update with a new chapter this week, as I run Cross Country and a major race is coming up so longer practices are to be expected. Right after that, I leave on vacation and won't get back until two Wednesdays from now. When I can, I'll try to get write a new chapter (and finish the outline, not much to go) but where we're going on vacation, there isn't very good internet.**

**Thanks for reading and please review.**


	12. Ten Minutes

**I'm back! I returned from vacation a few days ago but had to make up a lot of stuff I missed while I was gone. There was hardly any internet and I could only log onto ffnet on my phone. I could keep up with stories I was following, but I couldn't write any of this.**

**When I'm done with TMMotFTG, I'm posting another multi chapter, although it'll be an AU based off of a music video. It's going to be from a song by Walk off the Earth. The outline is already complete, and five out of expected ten or eleven chapters have already been written, so it'll be wrapped up before maybe even December, as I'll post one chapter every few days!**

**Also expect a Nalu one-shot to be posted sometimes this week! It's about 800 words long so far with maybe another 500 to go?**

**Anyway, this is your last chance to review with your guesses. Next chapter, the murderer for each ending will be revealed!**

**There might be some errors as I proofread this really quickly but wanted to get the chapter out as soon as possible. Sorry!**

* * *

2:20.

For the few minutes that passed, hardly anyone talked. If there was conversation, it was a feeble suggestion of what to do next. No matter what was said - everything from forcing Freed to disable the runes, to _killing _Freed to disable the runes, to interrogating the remaining members and waking up Elfman.

"I... why don't we look for Juvia? Maybe she can help us out?" Wendy asked in a very quiet voice. However, there were still several heads that turned to look her.

"No, Wendy," Lucy said. "I don't think we should... that has only resulted in more deaths every time we look for someone. I want Juvia alive as much as you do, but..."

For once and unlike previous times, there was only agreement among the rest of them. No one wanted to look around just to be stabbed. No one wanted for everyone to hear their screams but not be able to save them. No one wanted to be accused of a murderer, just to then die.

But then there was the murders of Master Makarov and Droy - no one had a clue of who had killed Makarov. Droy's death had been in a room with everyone still alive except for Cana, who had been dying at that point. Droy's death had been a sudden one that almost no one had thought to grieve over in their despair for their own lives, except for Levy and Jet.

The situation looked pretty bleak. Split up and be killed? Or, stay together and still be killed.

"We can go into the kitchen," Evergreen said as she rubbed her bare arms. "I'm getting chills just standing out in the open! There's so many openings that the murderer can come from!"

"I guess we could - but remember Droy?" Max replied. Evergreen frowned.

"I still think we should go inta the kitchen!" Bickslow said. "Ever's right - there's more chances for the murderer to come out here, or for one of us to stab and run before we can react. At least in the kitchen, we can make sure the dead don't come backta life and move aroun' like some zombie." That time, Gray frowned at Bickslow's implying of Juvia.

"Fine. Who will go into the kitchen to make sure it's safe?" Freed questioned.

Erza, Gajeel, and Natsu volunteered. The explanation for why they volunteered or were chosen was that they would be able to more quickly if attacked, or be able to take a hit without dying. Jet's name was first suggested, by Carla, although Jet had refused. Although Jet was fast, if he was not expecting the attack then he would be out for the count right away, the speed mage had defended himself.

Although no one blamed Jet for backing out. Everyone made the connection of Jet's best friend dying, being stabbed, in that room. Jet did not want to make a repeat of that situation, but with himself as the dead body with the kitchen knife in his back.

The three left and came back quickly, announcing that the coast was clear with Natsu and Gajeel's dragon noses. By the time everyone had filed into the kitchen and the doors were closed, the time was 2:22.

Levy flipped through her notes and facts, deciding to review them. "Hmm..."

She read each word carefully before announcing to the rest, "I'm going to read out loud what I've figured so far from our investigations and the deaths."

The small crowd faced her silently, and Levy gulped. "I - er... there have been six deaths," she read nervously as she glanced down a few times at the paper. "The six deaths that have occurred have been Master Makarov, Juvia, the traveler, Laxus, Droy, and Cana, in that order. The method of killing has varied from person to person. Starting off from who was killed most recently, or last... would be Cana. Cana was mysteriously poisoned _after _the investigation started. That means that the murderer purposely targeted and killed Cana. The second to most recent death is Droy, who was stabbed in this room, the kitchen with a knife belonging to said room. The murder occurred in the dark meaning that while the murderer did have an intent to kill, he may have not wanted to kill Droy. The murder happened so fast that no one can be ruled out of killing Droy.

"Laxus," Levy continued with a big breath, throat becoming dry, "Laxus was stabbed. By who, we don't know, but Laxus did know the murderer and most likely vastly underestimated them as Laxus had time to launch an attack before being killed. We heard him scream the beginning of a spell, but it was cut off. That means that he died quickly - or, he bled to death slowly, but was stabbed quickly. The stranger was killed in the same manner in the waiting room. The person who killed the stranger somehow knew about the secret passage, which makes Laxus a suspect - but that would mean that there are more than one killers."

"I sure hope there aren't," Bickslow muttered, interrupting Levy. Levy was almost grateful as she was given a pause in her speech.

Another big breath, and then Levy continued on. "Then, Juvia was killed in the hallway with Makarov's sword - the same sword that killed Laxus. She also knew who the murderer is, or at least had an idea as the rest of her team at the time reported that she'd said she knew. Of course, seeing as they never got a chance to hear her out... well, the first murder was Makarov, occurring two hours and some minutes ago. He was found dead in his office by Mira, and the cause of death was - "

"The cause of death was...?" Freed prompted. Then he turned white.

"Did any of us ever check to see the method of killing Master?" Erza asked.

"N-no..." Levy whispered. "What if... no, we need someone to go check him!"

"This is a chance to find out who killed everyone? I'll go!" Gray said.

"Same here," Mirajane said. Max nodded beside her as Pantherlily swooped down on Gray's shoulders.

"Good," Erza nodded, "You four go - but only bring down the body! Be back in less than a minute - don't waste any time!"

As the four left, Levy was quickly scribbling down any way that Master Makarov could have been killed. It occurred to her that there had been no blood around him, so she wrote down bloodless crimes - some poison, chocking, or a strange magic, for example. Once she was done with her notes, she looked back up and realized that the group had not yet returned.

"It's 2:26. Considering your speech took less than half a minute as you had been speaking so fast," Erza said, "They left at about 2:23 or 2:24. I told them to be less than a minute. _They're late."_

"Should we go and look for them?" Natsu asked. "'Cause I agree. Master's so tiny, carrying his body would be a job even Gray could've done by himself in half a minute."

"They may have run into trouble," Freed said. "You two go."

Natsu and Erza both agreed but Natsu added, "We should bring someone else - Lucy? You wanna come with us?"

The Fire Dragon Slayer turned around to where he thought Lucy had been standing. "Lucy?"

The Celestial Spirit mage was not there.

"Whoa! When did Lucy leave?" Happy said as he opened the giant fridge, struggling as he did with both paws. "We gotta look for her!"

"Right!" Levy said as she looked around some counters.

The Celestial Spirit mage was not there.

In fact, she wasn't anywhere in the kitchen, Natsu realized as he sniffed the air. _What on Earthland?! Hold on - a bunch of scents aren't here anymore! _Natsu hadn't been paying attention to who was in the room with him earlier - he had been using all of his brain power and attention span to listen to Levy - but now, he realized that more people were gone from the room.

"Where's Evergreen, Carla, and Wendy?" he growled. "When did they leave?"

"Wha - Evergreen was right next to me!" Lissana cried. "Or, I thought she had been!"

"That's four that are supposed to be here... that aren't here," Jet said, a deep and almost dark frown on his face.

Happy then let out a cry from behind Natsu. Whirling around, Natsu searched the ceiling frantically for his blue cat, but saw no sign of him. The only thing on the wall other than cabinets was a clock, which read 2:28.

"Happy? _Happy!" _Natsu screamed. "Where'd you go!"

"Who is left in the room?" Erza demanded. "Make sure you aren't blocking my view of anyone!"

They counted - Natsu, Erza, Bickslow, Jet, Gajeel, Lissana, Freed, and Levy were the only ones remaining. Or, less than half of the group that had all been together less than five minutes before.

"Where has everyone gone?" Natsu wondered before finally averting his eyes from above him and looking straight ahead. One guild member stared back at Natsu, with a somber yet steely expression.

Natsu opened his mouth, about to shout (For what? In what? For help? In panic? He didn't know), but similar to Droy's death, the room plunged into darkness.

Seconds later, there was pressure on his back. Natsu wondered if that was how Droy felt at his death - blind, disorientated, and scared of his wits. Then, Natsu realized that the pressure wasn't a knife slicing through him - it was a hand. Somehow, the person had turned off the lights and grabbed him? Or was it someone looking for comfort in the dark?

Either way, Natsu was not taking the risk. He screamed for help, but no one answered with, "I'll help you!" Instead, there were responding yells of panic that were a result of his leading noise. He heard footsteps coming closer - maybe someone was scrambling to free him, scrambling to reach him?

Then the lights flickered back on.

Erza read the clock, as it was the first thing to reach her eyes that she could fully understand without having to blink to adjust her eyesight. 2:29.

There was a gasp from Levy. "Where did everyone go?!"

Titania narrowed her eyes, turned around and studied the room. It was nearly empty. Only a few souls remained... and one of them was not Natsu.

Erza gritted her teeth. "Natsu, Lissana, Jet, and Gajeel are gone, now!"

Bickslow growled, "Where the hell could they have gone at a time like this - plus Ever, Wendy, Cosplay Queen, two of those cats... well, everyone's disappeared!"

Levy shook with horror. "This... this can't be happening! How did they vanish into thin air?"

Then, there was a grunt from Freed, surprising everyone - they had no idea that he could do such an ill-mannered action. "I think I saw one of Lucy's spirits. She has a spirit that can transform into others, or duplicate their appearance... am I right?"

Erza nodded. "Correct: Gemini."

"Well, I saw _two _of Happy... one that told everyone to hide before being abducted... and one that abducted the first Happy."

The clock chimed 2:30 as Freed uttered his next words.

"I've solved the case."

**There are a lot of open ties that will be closed in the next chapter, but if you have a question then please ask it just in case I've made a continuity error! ****Well, no matter what, please review! There's only one chapter left... it will be longer, depending on the endings' lenghts.**

**Everything will all be sorted out and explained next chapter, which should be out soon! Possibly Thursday or Friday if I'm lucky, Sunday at the most.**


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